trinity-destler

A truly bizarre film. It has the premise of a heart-warming family comedy, with a troop of little kids and an earnest scout master who wants to instil love of the outdoors in some sheltered suburbanites (with the expected undertone of weird US nationalist propaganda American films like this seem legally obligated to have). But while it more or less delivers the by the book plot and emotional beats you'd imagine such a film would have, it does so with constant swearing, lewd dialogue, and a slew of adult characters who seem to have wandered in from a National Lampoon movie. Even with this jarring hodgepodge, there were dramatic beats that were cheesy but would have been serviceable enough if they had done the absolutely bare minimum to develop the characters. Randy and Kirk are brothers but have no relationship and nothing whatsoever is offered to explain why Randy loves their father's scout mission so much while Kirk is not just indifferent, he hates the entire concept of nature. You expect some kind of backstory to eventually come up, but it never does, even when the pair have a serious scene together. There's nothing to invest in.

I don't understand who this movie is for or for whom it would even be appropriate. Overall it can only appeal to kids and stars five too many ten year-olds for teenagers to be interested, but it's from the perspective of the adults and full of adult jokes (not just rude, but rude and jaded in ways kids won't find funny). There's also a bunch of irreverent religious 'humour' coexisting with a weird conservative streak as if events were taking place simultaneously in a John Waters movie and in the land of Leave it to Beaver. It really is like two completely different scripts with wildly different sensibilities crashed into each other at high speed and somehow merged.

It's not totally joyless, I did actually laugh a bit, even if more often out of shock and confusion than at punchlines. The actors seem equally uncertain what kind of tone they should be going for, though they make an admirable attempt to give it energy and momentum. Two major characters carrying most of the emotional load of the story are mute for no adequately explained reason and this compounds the already profound issue of lack of character development. Patton Oswalt was just boring and flat and the only one who tries to play it as if it were that milquetoast family film throughout, while everyone else at least commits to the insanity level that seems necessary. He can't really act and he doesn't get to be funny so I don't know what the thinking was, all I know is he failed to carry this movie and there are three people who could have done better right there in the cast. I had to watch it through my fingers out of second hand embarrassment at times and I'm left wondering how on earth this happened.

There's something there, but it didn't work out. It's clearly supposed to be some kind of screwball black comedy, but the comedy isn't screwball enough or black enough, so it just comes off as a romcom that doesn't quite grasp how fucked up it is. Both Harry Connick Jr and Sarah Jessica Parker are terrible in it, no charisma or chemistry, and every single supporting character is more appealing to watch than either of them. The total lack of spark in the alleged romance just makes it uncomfortable when they act cute over the corpses of their victims. It should be comic, but they and their relationship are lifeless and that makes it creepy. The titular Dick is meant to be so unsympathetic that you're okay with the light-hearted shenanigans surrounding his murder, but he was still more engaging than our 'heroes' and the morbid absurdity which depends on us utterly hating him to become dark whimsy remains grim and upsetting.

Craig Ferguson has his moments of being quite funny, as does David Koechner, but their scenes working well doesn't pull the film up from its downward spiral. The leads are just ill-chosen or poorly directed or both. Their performances are straight bad and their characters have no charm. Sarah Jessica Parker as a bubbly blond with a secret knack for crime is supposed to be a funny dichotomy, but her baby voice and air headedness are just grating.

Harry Connick can't act and casting him as a heartthrob is also possibly just a bridge too far under any circumstances considering he looks like a Simpsons character. At their fucked up meet cute she differentiates him as 'the handsome one' and yeeesh. That's as cruel as the plot. The fact that he's standing next to Johnny Knoxville (far too good-looking and likeable for this role) at the time doesn't help. Casting Knoxville as the heel in general didn't work. As we find out the original motive to kill Dick was a misunderstanding, despite the film's constant reassurance that he's definitely still a complete asshole, his naturally endearing screen presence and the heroine's unhinged behaviour combine to make him just enough of a victim that the whole conceit of the film falls apart.

Anyway, the consistent awkwardness leads me to believe the biggest single problem with this is the director. It could have been mediocre rather than bad with the exact same script.

A quiet little black comedy which manages to be distantly satiric and genuinely moving without ever indulging itself. It feels very close and personal with its few characters and fewer set pieces. The only major flaws are Christina Appelgate, who hinders enjoyment every moment she's on screen but she far from ruins the film, and the thin, slightly saccharine character of Gram's father who nevertheless is instrumental in the film's best scene. Be forewarned it does require a little patience, as the film is mellow, not in a hurry, never melodramatic, and is definitely better on second viewing. If you like unobtrusive indie strangeness (or if you even know what kind of film I mean by that), it will definitely appeal.