Reviews

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** In the best role of his career Brian O'Halloran plays Will Carlson (a.k.a. "Flappy") who is a clown down on his luck. Neighbors are sleeping in his piece of crap car, Will's mother can't stand him and he lives in the most ramshackle house in the neighborhood. Life couldn't get much worse for Will. After a children's party falls through Will decides to pack it in. One day while looking through the newspaper for a real job Will has an epiphany.

"This is the single greatest idea I've ever had!" proclaims Will.

He explains to his best friend that since his clowning around at children's parties isn't paying the rent he will put a different spin on things. He creates a raunchy clown character that is designed to appear at bachelor parties as a novelty act. When his best friend suggests that the idea is "vulgar" Will agrees. So much so that he will name his new clown persona just that- "Vulgar".

Unfortunately when "Vulgar" goes to his first gig he meets a very scary Ed (Jerry Lewkowitz in the worst toupee ever) and his 2 sons Frankie and Gino (Ethan Suplee and Matt Maher). But this is no bachelor party. In a harrowing piece of cinema Will is beaten, tortured, held at gunpoint and raped by the threesome. This is a very dark and disturbing scene. But while this well publicized segment is unsettling it is no more disturbing than similar scenes in "The Accused" with Jodie Foster or Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salò". Needless to say, this film is not for everybody.

When confronted by his best friend, Syd Gilbert, as to what took place Will tells him what happened. Will, who is ashamed and embarrassed of the incident, decides to just let it lay while Syd pleads with him to go to the police. He is the voice of reason throughout the film. This is ironic because Syd is played by director Bryan Johnson who also wrote the film and essentially put Will in this predicament in the first place.

After saving a little girl from a hostage situation, Will and his "Flappy" persona becomes a media darling. Soon a producer (played by Kevin Smith) comes knocking at the door offering a nationwide TV show. Soon Flappy is a huge success with millions of adoring fans from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine. Finally Flappy can make a good living, get a real car and pay his Mother's rent at the nursing home.

But all is not well in Flappy's Funhouse. In another creepy scene Ed calls Will on the telephone and blackmails him for $50000 dollars or he will release a videotape of the incident that could potentially ruin Flappy's career. That's when Will decides to take things into his own hands and go face to face with his attackers.

For a low budget film from a first time director "Vulgar" works on many levels. Mr. Johnson creates a dark moodiness to the film that continues even when Flappy is riding high as the number one clown in the nation. You can sense that his happiness won't last long and that impending doom is just around the corner. The music is almost too good for a film of this budget scale and it complements the film very well. Ryan Shore's score helps maintain a dark atmosphere.

On the other hand the sets are terrible. Especially Flappy's Funhouse, which looks like it was built at the very last minute. (I can see it now."Ok. Ready to shoot the Flappy's Funhouse scene... Oh No! We forgot to make a set.Quick! Get some plywood and some spray paint! And let the kids help.") The lighting is equally bad. Watch the inconsistent lighting behind the producer and Will during the meeting in Will's home.

Fortunately for the filmgoer the performances throughout are well acted. The casting is well done for as film of this genre. Brian O'Halloran takes a huge risk and thankfully succeeds. He skillfully conveys all of the emotions the role requires. The sequence when "Vulgar" returns home after his assault is especially gripping. Mr. O'Halloran plays the scene with just the right amount of emotion without going over doing it. Also Jerry Lewkowitz is one creepy b**tard. His portrayal of Ed is scary as hell.

And of course "View Askew" fans will appreciate the appearances of Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Scott Mosier and Walt Flanagan as well as the very subtle references to Mr. Smith's movies.

Every once and a while a movie comes out that the critics can't stand. In fact, it seems like every other week doesn't it?

Well, this week it's Slackers, the very disjointed, (but still funny), comedy Starring Devon Sawa, James King and Jason Schwartzman. Dave (Devon Sawa), Sam (Jason Segel) and Jeff (Michael C. Maronna) are the best cheaters on campus cheating their way though college with elaborate scams and cons that probably take more planning and energy than it would take to actually study hard. No, there will be no moral judgement here. It's just an observation. Besides, the scamming looks like it's more fun than cramming for finals. Luckily, it's fun for the audience as well.

Things are going alright for our 3 man crew until Dave makes the mistake of taking Ethan's (Jason Schwartzman) seat during an exam. Dave also screws things up by flirting with and giving a phone number to Angela (James King). The problem isn't that Dave gave his phone number. It's that he wrote it on a teachers copy of an exam... which Angela didn't take with her.

When Ethan finds this incriminating evidence he threatens to get the boys kicked out of school unless they hook him up with his dream girl, Angela. So, our "slackers" set out to do the impossible by finding out what makes Angela tick by visiting her dorm room and parents home, stealing her notebooks and copying e-mail files. This is all for not because the socially awkward Ethan doesn't have a chance. Especially since it's Dave that she likes and not "Cool Ethan".

As with all teen comedies there is conflict. Some newly found trust issues temporarily break up the threesome and when Angela finds out that Dave may have seduced her only because of Ethan's blackmail scheme she breaks up with him. Eventually our cheaters figure out that their friendship is more important than a diploma. With his friends help, Dave finds the courage to finally confront Angela and tell her the truth as well as how much he loves her and how he found his true self by loving her blah, blah, blah. Nothing really new here.

What is funny about "Slackers" are the frequent fantasy sequences and dick and fart Jokes. Some gags are very funny such as Ethan's fantasy making out with 2 girls at once and a sequence portraying the friendship of the "slackers". Of course some are not so funny such as Ethan groping a 70 year old Mamie Van Doren. Ugh!).

The real standouts of the flick are Jason Segel and Michael C. Maronna. You may remember Segel from his guest performances as Eric, Lizzie's on again off again boyfriend on TV's Undeclared and Maronna playing a "real" slacker in the Ameritrade commercials. These two upstage Sawa and Schwartzman easily. It also helps that they are included in the films funnier scenes. They also seem like they had the most fun on the set. Laura Prepon (That 70's Show) has a small role as Angela's very sexual roommate. She really doesn't have much to do except masturbate on a couch and complain that the test in a woman's magazine rates her "two points above skank" (Go Figure).

The major problem is that while many of the gags in the flick are funny on their own, many of them seem out of place and seem to be there only to break up the "run of the mill" love story. Also, upon closer inspection the blackmail plot is full of holes. Our heroes could have easily stolen all of the evidence back making Ethan's case very weak.

So, while you shouldn't expect the worst comedy of the year, (so far, that honor goes to Kung Pow: Enter the Fist), "Slackers" belongs in the "guilty pleasure" file. It's not bad enough that you'll hate it. But, it's not good enough to recommend it without feeling embarrassed that you paid "good money" to see it.