At Your Convenience

Randall and Dwayne are best friends and run a corner store together. Realizing that the glass tubes of small roses they sell are popular because people use them to sell crack, they decide to stop selling them. This positive move gives them a new perspective and, while Dwayne gets a new set of friends who are not in a gang even though it looks like they are, Randall discovers that maybe the view of crack being bad is all about perspective to, and gets a new friend in the 'crack-inclined' Chub D.

This short film is presented as being part of a sitcom series and it is very much dressed up in that genre, however the credits reveal that it was a student film and as far as I know, a standalone film. In most ways the film/episode is presented in a perky cheerful manner of a sitcom that one would find on network television; the characters are nicely multicultural, the colors and locations are safely bright, and generally all is well and happy. This is an important base because it makes the subject matter a bit funnier because of how it is experienced through this filter. The subject matter involves crackheads, gang members, and a valuable lesson about how to get what you want by being SAD. The absurd tone to it gives it a nicely comic feel and generally it plays very well on this. As a piece of comedy it has scope for being sharper and funnier but it is still consistently amusing with some good laughs in there too.

The animated design helps this otherworldly feel and the cast work well within it. Park plays innocent very well, which again fits this weird unreal feel the film has, while Perkins plays the straightman well even though his material is often not quite as good as that of Perkins. The supporting cast are good but mostly it is the delivery of the main two that gets the most from the script and scenes. I guess the chance of a full series of this never came to be, but as a standalone film or pilot episode, it works well enough because it is absurd, nicely pitched with a good tone, and produces general amusement and a couple of good laughs. I enjoyed it enough to forgive the use of a joke that Father Ted famously did much better.

This sitcom played at the Seattle Asian American Film Festival Shorts segment. My friend and I laughed so hard at the plot which developed from two guys running a convenience store talking about the perils of crack to the unexpected. Kudos to the brilliant animation blended with live action in the highly innovative sitcom. Little details such as packages of "mini uzis" hanging on the animated wall were clever and if I were to compare this to anything, the setting is like Roger Rabbit on crack? It made me crave more of this animation live action format. All of the actors were winning in their roles and with good writers, developed depth into a half hour with references to stereotypes of African Americans, Asians and drug addicts. I hope to see more from this young and creative director, Raymond Lai. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes to laugh out loud.