Live Free or Die

Last night I decided to go to a movie at the Woods Hole Film Festival. Live Free or Die grabbed my attention, so I blindly went in, hoping for a mediocre movie. The Film Festival is good, but my expectations are never that high. Boy how I was wrong. Written and directed by two former writers from Seinfeld, this movie was wonderfully funny and of a professional quality. It was impossible to believe that they only had one camera and less than $2 million! It was like watching a big name Hollywood picture, except without all the crap product placements. If you have a chance to see this movie, do it. They hope to at least do a New England or a college release, but I sincerely hope that it gets a wider distribution.

This movie has two great characters and a cool little story. However- those two characters and their story is enough to take up 20 minutes of film- after we breeze through that we still have an 1:40+ that is unaccounted for in the planning of this movie...

I like these characters A lot but what the hell was this idiot thinking stretching their material so thin?? They are only two guys- and not THAT interesting- they would make very cool supporting characters in a REAL movie, but this is more like a pilot for these characters than anything else- the actual movie totally, and utterly sucks from start to finish.

This is one of those, I'll keep watching this because it has to get better and it never does kind of movies... It never ever gets better- it's stuck in a rut of idiocy.

There are some good scenes so if you don't mind wasting your life and pissing yourself off- watch this, it's almost worth it to watch the 17 and a half minutes of good footage.

PLOT: a lowlife criminal in a small town is looking for street cred, he concocts a plan to impress a friend that owns a storage facility in the hopes of landing a security job with them, -that he is one bad mo fo that doesn't take any crap from anyone- but the plan kind of goes everywhere but where it's supposed to...

*** out of ****

Aaron Stanford plays a guy named John Ruddgate. He's a wannabe gangster who just can't seem to pull it off no matter how hard he tries. Enter Lagrand(Paul Schneider), a mentally handicapped man who really enjoys John's company. In reality though, John needs Lagrand a lot more than Lagrand needs him. John tries to impress Lagrand, but somehow, everything goes wrong in all the right ways. Both of them are completely oblivious of their situation, and all they want is to put an end to it. Meanwhile, two cops investigate a situation that seems to involve John, but Officer Putney(Michael Rapaport) has more going on in his personal life than it appears, and it looks like it might cause some distress. The film takes place in New Hampshire, but it appears to be filmed in Rutland, Vermont. Since both places look similar, I guess it doesn't matter.

The film is great. What makes it great is it's originality, it's ever twisting plot, and the fact that the characters refuse to be stereotypes. I love it when a refreshing movie like this comes out that is just enjoyable and uncomplicated. This is basically just the kind of film that I can easily get into because of how much it draws you in. It's just a breath of fresh air. It's an even bigger breath of fresh air than TRANSAMERICA or A MIDNIGHT CLEAR. There is just so much to enjoy about it.

Aaron Stanford has proved in the past that he can be very dopey(TADPOLE)and very rugged(HILLS HAVE EYES remake), and now he shows a side of himself that manages to be realistic but true to life at the same time. He has a really believable performance as a guy who just wants to be remembered for something bad and has absolutely nothing to lose, but gets very irritated when things are ruined for him. And Paul Schneider... WOW. He somehow pulls off a very low key performance that has exactly the same effect as if it were over the top He is just fascinating to watch. He has such a unique screen presence in this film. I swear, you could pause the movie and he would still look awkward no matter how he's standing or what he's doing. Even when he holds still, he pulls off being a person who has a mental disability. It's just really subtle, and yet so hypnotic. I was impressed.

So overall, if you're looking for something light and easy to get into, I'd highly recommend LIVE FREE OR DIE. It may not be life changing, but damn. It is damn fine independent cinema. It's really wonderful. Check it out.

Rated R for pervasive language including sex references.

I had the pleasure of watching this film in Austin at the SouthbySouth West Film Festival and it was hilarious. It was simple in humor yet that was the funny thing about it. Their wasn't a dry seat in the house. And no they weren't crying out of laughter but for pissing their pants while laughing. Especially with the lines from Paul Schnieder's character Lagrand. I do remember one of the questions that a lot of people wanted to know and that was where could they get a copy of the film. Hopefully they will bring it soon if not release for theaters nationwide. It would totally be a hit. After the film we must of clapped for like a few minutes unfortunately we couldn't ask the director or the cast that many questions because the schedule was very tight and we wanted to go catch another film. Aaron Standford also brings great desperation to his character Rugged who desperately wants to be a notorious gansta. And thankfully not in the ways of a Wigga. Any fans of slacker humor would definitely love this film. "Yep, They Stole My Porn And That was Vintage S"#@ Man"

I rented this movie on accident and turned out to be a very good movie. i agree with what "scoochie9" commented about the movie. Different people have different tastes and this movie happens to fit just what i like. the comedy is pretty dry and also subtle, but at the same time there are so many minor details in the movie that are just straight up hilarious (when rugged first talks to the character of Ebon moss and he says "yeah right"). I do agree that the film had a lot of potential that it didn't capitalize on. I thought the characters could have been developed a bit more. i really liked the way they ended the movie. i recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of dry, clever comedy.