Awful Nice

I have a brother. I can understand how some people who don't may not quite get all of the humor or the dialog or how things can escalate from talking to fighting in less than 5 seconds, but if you do have a brother (or a sister I suppose), then this movie will feel all too familiar to you. And in a good way. It's some of the most realistic sibling rivalry I've seen in a movie, combined with some of the most unrealistic and absurd comedy. But it's great absurd comedy so you just kind of go with it. The movie does a really nice job of balancing physical gags with clever banter, and I found myself quoting it a bit after-wards (that's always a good sign). A rocking soundtrack combined with the breakneck pace of the editing and each gag coming one after another, and the whole movie sort've flies by. On one hand, that can be a good thing, as you never want to be waiting around for a movie to end. Comedies that are too long often leave a sour taste in my mouth. On the other hand, there isn't much of a build-up to, or culmination of, a resolution between the brothers, and that was a little unfulfilling. Other than that, I loved everything about this movie, and I think it'll find a huge audience when they release it. I'll be seeing it again.

I saw this at the Alamo and thought it was the funniest movie of the whole festival, and maybe one of the funniest I've seen in the past few years. The big laughs come from the physical comedy, but there's a lot of subtle humor in the dialog and the characters too that I only started to pick up on towards the middle of the movie. Kind of made me feel like I'd catch more the 2nd time around, but this was the last screening of it at SXSW, so I guess I'll wait 'til it gets released. There were some lulls in the middle and the story arc goes from 0-60 a little too quick at the end, but these are minor complaints that only keep it from being a perfect movie. And most movies are not perfect, especially comedies, and ESPECIALLY extremely funny ones. Like Tommy Boy and Billy Madison aside, there are no perfect comedies in the last 20 years. And this movie felt like Tommy Boy got into a car accident with Sideways. And in a good way. I loved it.

Sometimes a story played out on film serves as a motivator or is inspiring or just plain entertaining, however in the case of the independent film Awful Nice, I am still attempting to categorize it. The story begins with Jim (James Pumphrey) retrieving his younger brother Dave (Alex Rennie) to return home and attend the memorial services for their recently deceased father. The condition and location in which Jim finds Dave was the first indication that somebody has issues. This film did something that has never happened to me before, I laughed uproariously at some very funny sequences, but once the film was over I was left feeling unfulfilled. Usually if it is a good comedy, the emotion elicited is upbeat and cheery but not with this film. The characters Dave and Jim both reminded me of how competitive brothers can be having grown up in a household with three brothers myself, but the incessant arguing and fighting was just too much. I continuously asked myself if Jim is the smart one why does he keep following advice from Dave. And then you realize that after a while some of the lunacy starts to make some sense. I do wonder what inspired writer Alex Rennie to create this outlandish road trip, brothers bonding story, and whether the character Dave was based in part on Alex's own life. The reason that I ask this question is because Mr. Rennie was so convincing with his particular kind of crazy as Dave. He was quick witted, rationalized everything from a spoiled brat point of view and took no responsibility for anything in his life all while guilting Jim into mindless submission. Mr. Rennie is either a really good actor or he really is Dave. I've never been to Branson, but there was a huge inference that it is overrun with Russian Mafia and prostitution, which is the world that Jim and Dave's father's business partner seemed to be very much a part of. Since I watch a lot of Law and Order reruns it was easy to spot Christopher Meloni (Jon Charbineau) in spite of the mustache, the horrible accent, and the worse wig ever. He did a great job of portraying a sleazy businessman not that he did anything that was sleazy, he just really looked the part. I still do not know what the title related to, I suppose they used Awful Nice because My Idiot Brother was already taken.

I grabbed this as an iTunes 99 cent rental based on the trailer.

Aside from Swingers, this was quite possibly the worst production value I've seen in a film with this kind of distribution. The audio quality was terrible, the lighting was amateur, the editing was simple, and overall, it was just really low budget.

But I watched the entire film and laughed the entire time. The acting was great, the script was fantastic, and the characters were perfect. The location could not have been better for the story, and the use of music (i.e. Dr. Dog) was spot on.

Which all goes to show, when you have a good story and good actors, you could shoot it on VHS and be successful. Film is about storytelling, not resolution or film grain or VFX or all-star casts.

This film succeeded in telling a compelling story with flying colors, and made me laugh (hard) for 90 minutes. A+++

Could be the funniest film I've seen in 5-6 years...

Like it consistently killed me with laughter, to the point that I actually missed things because I was laughing so hard.

The relationship of the brothers hinges on perfection and the dialogue is snappy with a consistent edge of hilarity.

Not sure how it hasn't become a word of mouth hit like Foot Fist Way or Wet Hot American Summer. I suppose that's more a sign of the times than anything else, but seriously, this movie is friggin' hilarious.

I don't get why it has so many poor ratings. I laughed from start to finish, and didn't find anything offensive or hard to follow or frustrating or whatever. No qualms with this flick at all. Just good times, and the kept rolling.

Everyone should run to their Netflix and watch this movie.