Swooped: Based on a Real Life Occurrence

I'm not sure why, but I recently had this film pop into my head the other day so I came here to see how it's done since I saw it at the 2011 Houston Comedy Festival.

I wasn't going to leave a review, but then I saw a misleading review so I kind of feel obligated. The review by "moviewatcher53" implies that there was a large audience in attendance for the film and that they loved every second of it. However, this is not the case at all. There were only about 20 people in attendance. Most of which were cast/crew from Swooped.

They also take an unnecessary shot at the film that played just prior. The audience (of non-Swooped cast/crew) seemed far more into that film than Swooped. In fact, many people left after the first film. I wish I had been one of them.

My review of Swooped is simple. It's shot well. The sound is good. The story is weak. The main characters are completely unlikable. They have no character arc. They are exactly the same at the end as they were at the beginning. The acting is okay, but the characters are so unlikable that the acting doesn't matter.

Anyway, I felt like IMDb deserved an honest review of that night in Houston. I see now they are remaking this film. The tagline should be "Swooped: The remake no one asked for".

As a movie buff, I often stray away from the Hollywood, big picture in search for diamonds in the rough. The independent film market often offers a plethora of genres, styles, and unique stories that can tickle anyone's fancy. "Swooped Based on a Real Life Occurrence," or "Swooped," for short, is definitely not that diamond I often look for.

Giving credits to the filmmaker, who from the looks of the production, didn't seem to have much of a budget, the final product is definitely respectable. Give or take a few sound glitches, uninspired sets, and all but creative camera work, the film looks fairly decent.

The story itself leaves room for questions. Perhaps it would have done better as a short, as the film itself could stand to lose a few pounds of un-contributing fat. There are isolated moments that are very entertaining, but the over all story seems to be lacking a purpose. There is no message to the film (not that every film should have one, but even "American Pie" has a hint of a message ), and the jokes seem a bit forced and repetitive. The cast was adequate to portray the very simple and somewhat hollow characters. There is nothing truly captivating about the main characters in the film, which once again brings the question of whether it would serve best as a short.

Overall its a movie that would be best enjoyed after a few drinks among friends. Not a movie that lends itself to be remembered, but better than many I've seen.

I saw this film at the Houston comedy film festival, where it took home the award for best feature. This is definitely not a film that's going to change the world but it will make the world laugh for the whole showing. It's a really hilarious movie although it has a few flaws in the story. It had the audience rolling from beginning to end. I had seen the trailer and wasn't really impressed by it but I decided to catch the flick anyway. Boy, was I surprised at how entertaining this movie is. Yes, it has some sound issues but it has really good production quality overall much better then I anticipated and I was shocked at the micro budget this film was made on. All of the lead actors are really talented, a little raw but they all have a real shot of making a career out of it.

Swooped played back to back with another feature and the other film was so boring and no one in the audience laughed more then a few times. When Swooped started most of us were already pulling our hair out due to sheer boredom over the last film. Thank god it started when it did because swooped saved everyone's day with 90 minutes of good laughs.

I got to meet both Joe and ShaunPaul at the fest as well. They were really down to earth guys, very approachable. I look forward to seeing what they do next.

I'm not sure if you can buy the film anywhere yet but when you can I know I'm going to grab a copy. I suggest you do the same.