Montana Amazon

If you think your family's got problems wait until you meet The Dunderheads. From the backwoods of the Rocky Mountains, this illiterate, socially dysfunctional family roars across the American west leaving a trail of mayhem and confusion as they collide with the mainstream world. A very black comedy that gradually reveals a poignant dramatic heart leads to a very effective ending as we find out why the Dunderheads are the way they are. Alison Brie from NBC's Community and Academy Award nominee, Haley Joel Osment are outstanding while Olympia Dukakis gives one of her best film performances as the very eccentric grandmother. Brie and Dukakis won acting awards for their roles in this film which was also selected as "Best Feature Film" at NYC's Big Apple Film Festival.

I just watched this movie. Good grief. Three weirdly combative, unstable creeps (a mute grandmother and her bickering grandson and granddaughter) attempting to drive to Canada (without any sense of direction or knowledge of how to drive a car) after the grandson accidentally kills a man. Along the way, there are more accidental murders, weird dreams about the kids' long-missing father, and, for a flick Comcast billed as a comedy, there's not an ounce of humor. In other words, we have unlikeable characters in a meandering, aimless plot. There's a metaphor for purgatory here, that is a bit too blatant to be called sub-text.

The only positives about the movie: the actors do a good job, even though the material itself isn't worth it. And, outside of that, even as an emotionally stunted dirtball, Alison Brie is still so pretty she could sell a glass of fire to a man dying of thirst. And the ending was pretty good. But getting to that ending was such a chore.

I randomly came across this movie one day. After seeing who's in it and reading the reviews here (8/10!!?) I thought I'd try it out. I'm still dumbfounded this exists. The performances are.... ok given what the actors probably had to work with. How this ever got billed as a comedy, I'll never know. Plucky music behind a scene doesn't make it comedy. Full of mental illness and murder, it felt like some bizarro world fear and loathing. Like a train wreck, i couldn't look away.

When a movie continues to rattle around in my thoughts for days after I've watched it, I know it's given me something to chew on. This was not an easy movie to watch. Damaged people. Well, of course, we're all damaged in one way or another. In some of us, it's more obvious, or it really hinders our ability to participate in "society." And yet, even these characters have a kind of grace. Ultimately, each of them even has a kind of integrity that gleams through the broken parts. Being human is hard enough when we come from a place that nurtures and supports us in positive ways. How do we begin to navigate that terrain when we've never been taught or modeled the skills for doing so? As awful as the situation is, this story is told with a quick, light, playful touch. No self pity, no commentary or judgment about these folks. It was an interesting little side trip.

A comedy that gradually reveals a poignant dramatic heart as a backwoods dysfunctional family flees their mountain home for a road trip across the American West and into a cultural collision with the modern world. Alison Brie from NBC's Community is outstanding and Olympia Dukakis gives one of her best film performances as the very eccentric grandmother. Both won acting awards for their roles in this film which was also selected as "Best Feature Film" at NYC's Big Apple Film Festival at Tribeca.

As the characters struggle with the world outside their mountain valley, they reveal much about the nature of family and the essence of the human condition.