Ham & Cheese

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!

This is the worst movie I have ever seen. Who are all of these people that are leaving the comments that say how good they think this movie is? There is no way anybody except somebody who is in this movie or there families can with a straight face say this movie is funny at all. It looks like it was shot on a high school video yearbook camcorder and the dialog is so bad it is like it was written by a bunch of fifth graders while they were skipping English class. I am sick and tired of these awful Canadian movies that make other Canadian movies look bad. How do they even get made? It's like the government will give money and film rights to anybody who can make a movie for less than $500. If you want to see a good Canadian comedy I recommend you go see something like Phil the Alien. One of the guys in this movie is also in Phil the Alien. I don't blame the people in this movie for it being so bad. It is just an awful script and bad directing. In my opinion this video is not even worth watching for free on TV let alone renting. Avoid at all costs!

This movie was terrible. I don't understand how so many people are leaving such good messages on this unless it is because they are family of the cast and crew. It was obviously wrote in about ten minutes and thrown together with cheap camcorders and actors who couldn't do anything worth being paid. The story is predictable and stupid with characters that aren't even likable. I have seen many worst movies so I give this a 2 out of 10 because its still terrible. Not a good way to waste an afternoon you are better off watching something else even if this is on TV for free sometime. Defanitely not worth paying to see at the movies- trust me on that one! The weighted IMDb rating is right on for this film at between 2 to 4 out of ten.

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.

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