Fell, Jumped or Pushed

One of the most enjoyable films I seen last year! Brilliant writing! An absolute must for anyone who likes witty indie films! It's a story that you will still be thinking about a week later. Hats off to the director for bringing together not only a great cast but also a very enjoyable and entertaining story. I went into the theater not knowing anything about the film. Being in the film industry myself I am sometimes a tough critic however I was laughing out loud almost the entire time and I left hoping there would be a sequel. ( I never leave hoping for a sequel) I would recommend this film to anyone but especially to the entertainment and film industry crowd. Get your popcorn and get ready to laugh out loud!

This clever little film features the hallmark of a good mockumentary: a solid ensemble of actors who create a vivid, zany crew of characters. In this case, they're brought together to film a documentary that's destined to change tracks -- if not go off the rails altogether -- as their amateur-but-earnest leader (Todd Peters) wades deeper into his own unfulfillment and his family's unsolved mystery. And all of this is framed as a documentary-within-a-documentary directed by an Eastern European auteur (the inimitable Andrei Belgrader). Filmed near the top and the bottom of the west coast, in Spokane, Washington, and San Diego, California, this movie is well worth your viewing.

Fell, Jumped or Pushed is a funny meta-mock-documentary that follows a bunch of likable, if not competent amateur documentary filmmakers pursuing an impulsive passion project. The joke is that the rookie documentarians are being documented as well, by a "legendary" documentarian, who is disgusted by the DIY enthusiasts who think they can read one of his books and suddenly produce follow in his footsteps. The mockumentary style has become the domain of television, (The Office/Park & Recreation ...) but it's easier to sustain in the investment of suspending reality when it is shown in a movie style. The acting and commitment to the characters carries the film. Writer/director Todd Peters gives a solid lead performance. HIs cast is interesting, likable and believable. The direction is crisp. The jokes don't draw blood, so much as tickle you with a feather. The reason the jokes work so well is that the characters are worthy of emotional investment. You want to see these people succeed. Thee are some genuinely clever twists as well that make this film worth watching to the finish. You want to see these people succeed. The setups take a little bit longer than sitcom mocumentaries and the obvious low budget of the film makers (real) lend a charm to the film that makes it actually look more like a real independent documentary than the modern style of sendups. In that sense, the film comes off like early Albert Brooks comedies. If you are tired of watching bloated budget green screen spandex extravaganzas, this fun little movie is well worth your time, and it gives you something to cheer for.

Fell, Jumped or Pushed is a mockumentary about a team of filmmakers creating a real documentary. Really? Really. While the plot line meanders, the cast of characters is simultaneously goofy and heroically endearing. The multi-layered reality will keep you guessing what the truth is...while you're rooting for the main character to fall in love, you may very well find yourself wondering who is real and who is scripted.

Fell, Jumped or Pushed leverages the visual richness of the small town much like Napoleon Dynamite used Preston, Idaho. The camera shots are well crafted to draw you into the story that these big-fish-in-a-small- pond could be picked up like marionettes for the amusement of the reprehensible genius documentarian.

"Fell, Jumped, Or Pushed" has a specific look and feel directly evocative of amateur documentary filmmaking. That's because this cleverly ingenious film is in fact its own mockumentary cheerfully flogging amateur documentary filmmakers, and it therefore demands none other than this precise visual presentation. Here we have a send-up of people who aren't good at filmmaking, and it's at its most hilarious when it implicates even its own filmmakers! Terrific.

To extend the joke to its threshold, director Todd Peters is also the star of "Fell, Jumped, Or Pushed" -- and his character, too, is named Todd, blurring the lines between lampooner and lampooned (the layers of self-deprecation and insinuation here are gonzo). Who knows what Todd Peters might be like in his real life, but film character Todd is most assuredly a clueless non-starter: He reads a how-to book authored by filmmaker Ivan (Andre Belgrader), and instantly empowered, he knows he's destined to make movies himself. Ivan soon becomes privy to all this, and sensing the seismic tremors preceding Todd's cataclysmic on-set disaster, he voyeuristically gathers his own camera crew to document Todd's film shoot. Todd's intentions for his movie may or may not have something to do with the empowerment of women, but we do have a title: "A Journey to Courage" features ladies from Todd's own family tree, and it goes nowhere fast until cousin Marcy -- while herself on set -- finds the filmmaking bug has bitten her, too. She adroitly grabs Todd's movie by the scruff, redirecting it in the thematic vicinity of the family's long-disappeared military grandfather Curly.

Assuredly, "Fell, Jumped or Pushed" is a very well-acted film, thanks to its fine actors' collective willingness to completely lay out for the script's great character development. The roles they inhabit are at times ludicrous, and in the next moment immersive and freshly fascinating, with no better example provided than Todd himself: He's at his best once his composure mudslides as a result of his film having dovetailed away from him, eventually hitting the proverbial fan. From concept to completion, "Fell, Jumped Or Pushed" is an exceedingly smart, self-aware, and inventively funny film, and one that sits squarely in its own space. -(Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking "Helpful." Cheers!)