The Godfather of Green Bay

I just saw the premiere of this movie in my hometown of Marinette, Wisconsin where the movie was filmed. The movie did a wonderful job of depicting the people, the scenery, and the whole Wisconsin vibe. The characters in this movie were well acted, including lead roles by Pete Schwaba and Lance Barber. Audiences will truly appreciate Big Jake and Rat Boy, because everyone knows someone like these two characters. My favorite character in the film was played by Thomas Lennon (Reno 911, The State), every time he was on screen he brought a giggle or smile to my face, great casting here.

This movie should be enjoyed by all. It offers a nice escape and a peek inside small town life through the eyes of some big city guys.

Excellent cast, great laughs, and an all around good time!

I saw this movie at the Wisconsin Film Festival in Madison on April 1 and it was great!- no April Fools. The movie does a great job poking fun at the way of life of people from Northern Wisconsin. The laughs are constant and not the same jokes and situations seen in every Hollywood comedy. The music was written by the BoDeans, a Wisconsin group, famous for the the lead song from the "Party of Five" television show. (Song's name was Closer to Free). From it's Packers/Bears jokes to referencing the "Macarena", this movie kept you laughing. The movie stars Pete Schwaba ( A Guy Thing) who wrote the story, Lauren Holly (Dumb and Dumber) who plays his love interest, Thomas Lennon (Reno 911) as local comedian, and Tony Goldwyn (Ghost) as the Godfather himself. The movie also includes Mark Borchardt, a successful independent movie maker (American Movie) who plays a local dj.

Non-stop laughs throughout this Sideways meets Fargo type buddy movie. Its filled with original, colorful characters that you end up loving by the end. The main character is full of quick lines, but really plays the straight man to a dine and dash buddy who pulls him back to his hometown in a backdoor attempt to get on the Tonight Show. The characters in the town of Pine Lake really make the film. Dug, played by Thomas Lennon, steals every scene he is in. Ratboy, is the funniest character of all with his brilliant facial expressions and love of hunting. The Godfather's creepy but ridiculous fascination with the Macarena will make you bust out laughing. You begin to see the whole town the way the main character does, at first skeptical and weird and by the end laughing at everything. This movie is guaranteed to make you laugh.

I'll never forget the day my wife and I took our nephew to see "The Godfather of Green Bay." How can we ever repay the webmaster at IMDb? More on that later.

Rarely have I been so excited to see a movie - here is the back-story… While surfing IMDb for local movies & times this past Saturday, my wife stumbled upon a link to "The Godfather" which was apparently showing at a theater some 40 miles from our home. "Hey look!" my wife said to me, " 'The Godfather' is playing!" Although we found it a bit strange that this 1970's classic was showing locally, my wife clicked on the IMDb link to make sure it was the movie we have both come to adore as one of the greatest movies ever made. Wow! The IMDb link brought up the 1972 Coppola classic - we reasoned that perhaps a re-release was in conjunction with the new Godfather video game. Whatever the reason, we soon changed our dinner plans for the evening and called our nephew who attends a local college to inform him to drop everything… "The Godfather" is playing.

After driving to our nephew's dorm then to the theater, an hour trip one way, my actual quote to my 18 year old movie loving nephew was, "I envy the pleasure you will have seeing this movie for the first time." So, let's see… how can I accurately portray our surprise when "The Godfather of Green Bay" began. I guess it was like the surprise Sonny Corleone felt when he was stuck at the toll booth. For, like Sonny, our evening had been killed. During a cavalcade of under our breath cursing, we realized the mistake - the IMDb web-crew had mistakenly linked the local showing of "The Godfather of Green Bay" to "The Godfather".

Funny thing - for all we know, "The Godfather of Green Bay" may be the greatest comedy of all-time. But since we were so extremely mad at the IMDb web-geeks and their error, and because we were earlier so jazzed to see "The Godfather" there was no way we could sit through even the first few minutes to find out. So, being disappointed beyond words, and with our popcorn tub barely dented, we left. Anyhow, as indicated, we have the IMDb web-master to thank for our botched evening. Which brings me back to my original question…How can we ever repay him? I'll make him an offer he…well… you know.

For a low budget movie, this movie was more then I expected. It had a good plot line and most of the character relationships were believable. I did have a problem with the relationship between the main character and his old school teacher. The age difference did not seem believable. It was well shot and did not look too "low budget". There were many different locations and even some aerial shots. It kept my attention with quite a lot of good comedy. Some of the improvisation from the secondary cast is great. Keep an eye on the character of "Ratboy", he kept me laughing through most of the movie. Drama, suspense, comedy, farce, romance, the movie has it all. If you get a chance to see it in the theatre or on video, check it out. If you are from Wisconsin or Upper Michigan, this movie should not be missed.