"Fell, Jumped, Or Pushed" has a specific look and feel directly evocative of amateur documentary filmmaking. That's because this cleverly ingenious film is in fact its own mockumentary cheerfully flogging amateur documentary filmmakers, and it therefore demands none other than this precise visual presentation. Here we have a send-up of people who aren't good at filmmaking, and it's at its most hilarious when it implicates even its own filmmakers! Terrific.
To extend the joke to its threshold, director Todd Peters is also the star of "Fell, Jumped, Or Pushed" -- and his character, too, is named Todd, blurring the lines between lampooner and lampooned (the layers of self-deprecation and insinuation here are gonzo). Who knows what Todd Peters might be like in his real life, but film character Todd is most assuredly a clueless non-starter: He reads a how-to book authored by filmmaker Ivan (Andre Belgrader), and instantly empowered, he knows he's destined to make movies himself. Ivan soon becomes privy to all this, and sensing the seismic tremors preceding Todd's cataclysmic on-set disaster, he voyeuristically gathers his own camera crew to document Todd's film shoot. Todd's intentions for his movie may or may not have something to do with the empowerment of women, but we do have a title: "A Journey to Courage" features ladies from Todd's own family tree, and it goes nowhere fast until cousin Marcy -- while herself on set -- finds the filmmaking bug has bitten her, too. She adroitly grabs Todd's movie by the scruff, redirecting it in the thematic vicinity of the family's long-disappeared military grandfather Curly.
Assuredly, "Fell, Jumped or Pushed" is a very well-acted film, thanks to its fine actors' collective willingness to completely lay out for the script's great character development. The roles they inhabit are at times ludicrous, and in the next moment immersive and freshly fascinating, with no better example provided than Todd himself: He's at his best once his composure mudslides as a result of his film having dovetailed away from him, eventually hitting the proverbial fan. From concept to completion, "Fell, Jumped Or Pushed" is an exceedingly smart, self-aware, and inventively funny film, and one that sits squarely in its own space. -(Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)
