Ham & Cheese

Well, walking into this film at the Victoria Film Festival (one of four films that I got to see) I was expecting something along the lines of a "serious" comedy, versus a slapstick - - - > which is what it inevitably turned out to be.

But not to be taken the wrong way; I actually PREFER slapsticks. BUT, i ALSO figured that this film would be something along the lines of a drama that would be done like any other film, versus a mocumentary.

Immediately when the film began and I discovered it to be a mocumentary, I began comparing it to FUBAR - - - > which stands to be not only the best mocumentary ever made, but the funniest movie I've ever seen. Unfortunately, Ham and Cheese didn't quite reach the great status of FUBAR.....at FIRST anyways.

The bad thing about this mocumentary was the fact that you KNEW it wasn't real at all because the camera work consisted of constantly changing angles and shots that would be impossible to do with any documentary, and the characters only talked to the camera when they were seated and prepared.

Another bad thing about this film was the fact that none of it was improvised (i know this because the director told me so), and its the improvisation that gives mocumentaries their comic-real-life ZING. Films like "A mighty wind" and FUBAR were insanely hilarious because of the realism that was brought into the slapstick, making you nearly wet yourself at the comic genious of it all.

But don't get me wrong, their were DEFINATELY scenes that nearly made me wet myself - - - > scenes that I laughed even harder at by the time i left the theatre.

The actors carried their roles seemlessly from the opening bad-singing sequence to the naked runaway scene. And some of the completely ridiculous stupid lines that were blurted out like, "I dug up the ground, and i F***ED IT!!!" made me fall out of my seat in incredibly loud laughter (you have to watch the entire film to understand that part). But the fact that they TRIED to make it look proffessional was what took away the REALISM that makes mocumentaries so funny.

When the movie finished, I listened to the director and main actor talk about the movie, and I realised the time and budget that they had to deal with the making of the film, which made me realise that all that stuff I was thinking was a little harsh. What they also said was that later on you will probably laugh more when you look back at the scenes of the movie - - - > which is what happened with me. Throughout the entire next day I couldnt help but laugh at all the stupid scenes, and even the ones that I didnt laugh at before made me laugh later on just because it was so STUPID!

At the ending i COULD have bought the DVD and got it signed and then talked to the director and actor, but my grudge that I had about it not being as funny as FUBAR at the time prevented me from doing any of that. Now I look back and highly regret not doing so, because I realise now that it was funny, and probably JUST as funny as FUBAR was.

Oh well, I guess now that if others see the film and enjoy it, i can at LEAST say, "Well guess what, i saw the PREMIERE!". ....to bad no signed DVD for me.....

i give it a 7.8/10

To put this film in perspective you must understand this about Canadian film: stories like this don't get made here. Stories about sex with the dead or badly maimed? Sure. Stories about allegedly charming Maritimers? Definitely. Stories about sex with allegedly charming dead Maritimers? Well, not yet, but just wait. Which is to say that although this country churns out more than its fair share of world-class comedians such as Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Martin Short and the late John Candy, we don't make movies that showcase this talent. So Ham & Cheese gets full marks for attempting something so bold as a mockumentary in a land where government-funded agencies favour creepy. That said, thinking back on some of the scenes in H & C, there's plenty of creepy here. Such as the scenes in which Mike Beaver's character joins a fringe festival acting troupe, which includes a cancer patient, a silent fat guy and the omnisexual leader. Seriously whacked out stuff — having sex with the earth? I would argue Beaver's story and performance, though the guy has that lovable lug thing going, is the weaker of the two, falling back on Waiting for Guffman-like parody. Beaver's choice to play the guy as a Lennyesque retard backfires, the character is more pathetic than funny. On the other hand, Jason Jones should be coming to a American theatre soon. He's that good. His performance seems to fit between old Harry Shearer SNL skits and Steve Carell in Anchorman. There are a few scenes — the one in which he auditions for a mattress ad using an Aussie accent and the one in which he plays an extra on a cop drama — are particularly memorable. They also seem to bring out the best film-making — the director edits them to maximum effect, and finds a happy medium between funny and sad. Kudos also to the filmmakers for paying attention to detail. At the beginning of Mike Beaver's story there is a shot of a poorly punctuated wooden lawn sign that is indicative of the culture of small-city Ontario — The Wolanski's. Perfect. The picture also transcends its genre and has something to say about the acting craft and show business, and what it has to say is ppppmph!

For someone to bully-pick on this film, calling it terribly acted or weak, is someone who can't possibly know the first thing about film making and/or is totally missing the point. Of course it's bad, it's SUPPOSED to be bad! But the idea is that it's so bad it's lovable. The Variety reviewer said it best (and I quote verbatim): "A mockumentary that rarely lets up in the laugh department, "Ham & Cheese" is a must-see for anyone with the smallest thesping aspirations. High degree of face recognition with veterans of "Kids in the Hall" and other northland tube shows on board, probably means that a vid-shot effort would be worth a film transfer for distribs looking to take a change on a potential cult classic." This was NOT shot on camcorders and written in 10 minutes, as it would not have even qualified for a Variety review, let alone be able to amuse countless festival audiences that it did...

And just so that I am keeping it completely honest, I do think that the production of Richard's play overstays its welcome in the storyline, but that's about the only aspect that falls flat in the entire movie. Otherwise, how could one not help but cheer for these funny underdogs with a dream? I don't suppose that the one person I've seen giving harsh comment on Ham & Cheese liked The 40 Year Old Virgin, either? Lighten up!

I am ashamed to have to call this movie Canadian. It was a conglomeration of bad script, worse actors, and no humour at all. I only watched it (okay, truthfully I couldn't take it anymore and walked out with still 15 minutes left)because a couple of friends wanted to watch, and because there were a couple of "Kids in the Hall" alumni listed as main actors. By the way, my cohorts didn't find it funny, thought provoking or even mildly entertaining, either. I consider myself a huge fan of B movies (even some "C" movies), but I have never before watched a movie that I walked away from resenting the time wasted that could have been spent....I don't know....ripping my toenails out by the roots and enjoying it more.

I recommend that you skip this movie if you want to see a good comedy or a good drama or a good anything really. I completely disagree with all of the other comments that are posted here in the review section. When I saw this film in Toronto at the rep theater I know that we were not alone in not liking this film one bit. A couple people even walked out about three quarters threw. I recognized a lot of talented people in this movie but the material they have to work with was obviously not thought out very well and there are plot holes you can drive a truck through like the big one being why are these two hacks acting like they are and how on earth do they think they will succeed? What are they even trying to do? Samantha Bee is in this film and fans of the Daily Show will recognize her but her part is very small. Lots of recognizable people in it but they are unfortunately all in small roles. Or maybe it is fortunate because if they are in big roles with such bad material it would make their image less to me. The two actors playing the leads in the film (2 guys who are trying to make it big and become stars) aren't big names or anything and I was not impressed but we should give them credit or O should say not blame them too much because they did not have good material to work with, like I said before. The big problems I think were the direction and most of all the script which seems like it was written in a few hours by drunken high school drama class who thought it would be fun to make a movie. I was literally squirming in my seat by the end of this one to get out of there but did not walk out I have never walked out of a movie but this one was close. Don't waste your time on this movie you will regret it. Trust me. Or if you do watch it in the first five or ten minutes and see how bad it is go ahead and turn it off because trust me it does not get better that's what I was hoping for.