High Strung

This movie has quickly achieved cult status at my house. The more times I watch it, the sillier and funnier it seems. It stars one main character, was shot in one main location, and looks as if it were produced for about $100. This, of course, only adds to its quirky charm. The movie consists largely of Steve Oedekerk talking directly to the camera about everything that bothers him, and he is bothered by almost everything. The movie is really a thinly veiled stand-up comedy routine, but that doesn't make it any less hilarious. (A bit of related trivia: You can actually see a little of Steve Oedekerk playing himself as a stand-up comedian on an episode of 'Full House', in which he appears on Star Search!)

I was working at a video store when this movie came to my attention. I had seen the box any number of times and thought about checking it out because it has Jim Carrey in it, but never got around to it. Then one day a customer returned the movie while I was working and I asked how it was. "Terrible!" he said. "It's just some guy hanging out in his apartment, complaining about everything that annoys him." And that's when I decided to see it; to me, that sounded like a pretty decent film. I was pleasantly surprised. It was better than decent; it is one of my favorite films of all time. The directing is interesting, the acting is not great, and the plot is light but cute. The reason to watch this film is for Steve Odekirk ranting about all the things that annoy him, from smokers to people on gameshows, to Happy The Clam. It's good, it's funny, and it stands up extremely well to repeat viewing (I can't get bored of it). But you probably need the right personality type to appreciate it.

I saw this with a Brazilian guy and a couple of Russian guys who rented it because it had Jim Carey in it. (Is it like a cultural thing that Russians like Jim Carey?) The Russians were disappointed. Not enough Jim Carey. (Jim Carey fans...be warned...if that's the only thing you think sounds interesting, don't see this unless you've seen everything else he's in and are desperate to just complete the collection. This is a small movie with a small part from a big star, so it may be sold with his name on it. He's an important but tiny part.) The brazilian guy and I quoted lines from that movie at each other for months. ("Hello Mr. Clam, may I take your...HAT!?")

Steve Odekerk is a genius. He has hits and misses (ever see that real-time computer animation special of his? Ugh), but if he's had a large role in the creation of anything, it will be original. High Strung, BTW, is definitely a hit.

Steve Oedekerk is a genius when it comes to well written comedies, so when I heard about high strung I nearly freaked out. Basically in this film, one of Steve's more independent workings, Thane Furrows, portrayed by Steve, stays locked in his apartment and bitches about stuff. The movie was fairly engaging and had a lot of good one liners but some of the rants that Oedekerk launches into are a little lame. The original comedy in this movie; especially Furrow's boss and his description of his job. Jim Carrey does play a small role in the film, death in particular, but he is a pivitol part of the plot and comes into a little more prominence in the end of the film. Also another noticable appearance on this film is Kirsten Dunst playing a small girl right after a scene with Thompas Wilson AKA Biff from Back To The Future... not that we really care but... for Carrey fans I wouldn't reccomend High Strung. Though many of you would enjoy it a great deal would be looking for a Jim Carrey movie and Oedekerk's style is to slowly paced for most Carrey fans.

The first time I saw this movie, I almost sh*t my pants it was so funny! With all the crazy flash animations that I see on the internet nowadays, I'm surprised this movie isn't more widely known. There is a very limited amount of people I know who have even heard of Steve Oedekerk (genius). High Strung is one of those movies that got under-rated when it came out, but will be highly recognized in the future. I envision High Strung fans 20 years from now making a mecca to the movie theater for a grand reopening of High Strung, dressed as their favorite High Strung characters (like at the debut of a new Star Wars or LOTR movie). As soon as this movie is released on DVD, someone tell me.

"I killed the President."