"Everything is Everything", the first
feature film from the people at Studio 8 (www.studio8.net)
is a "mockumentary" in the vein of "This is Spinal Tap" and "Best in
Show".
The film focuses on three diverse, yet equally
clueless young men, each with a dream that is doomed to failure. In
spite of this, they attack each of their pursuits with naive exuberance.
Chris Trew plays Dale Kerny, who writes
astonishingly bad songs for every situation, from birthdays -- "365 days
and you picked this one" -- to Christmas. His biggest aspiration is to
change the national anthem to his hilariously awful new version. Dale is
one of the most earnestly pathetic characters ever brought to the
screen. He's just like Britney Spears without the hot body and breasts,
and a slightly more pathetic singing voice.
Brock LaBorde appears as Russell Cagle, who
along with his non English speaking friend Ron Rico, is heart set on
making a documentary about Abraham Lincoln. His only shortcoming as a
filmmaker - ok -- one of his many shortcomings as a filmmaker, is his
complete lack of knowledge about Lincoln, or any aspect of history.
Through him, we learn all about Lincoln's bold trip to combat the Nina,
the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The fact that he is making his film
using a security camera hooked up to a VCR and "some metal thing" that
provides power doesn't help matters.
As wannabe superhero Justin Justice, Truston
Aillet portrays a deluded man that believes that he has both the
intellect and the physical prowess to fight crime. He seems to spend
most of his time climbing into trees and dropping down out of them to
surprise evil-doers, although the absence of said evil-doers hampers his
efforts. He also spends an inordinate amount of time checking playground
equipment for dangers to children.
Seeing as it is the first movie from the team,
one has to ignore the technical shortcomings of the film. For example,
Justin Justice's scenes are often too dark, but the inspired comic
skills of the actors make up for the low-budget quality.
While the film fails to provide the belly
laughs that "Spinal Tap" does, it definitely is a good start for these
up and coming filmmakers. The humor provides more of a sustained smile
than spurts of hilarity, however there are several noticeable
exceptions.
The scene in which Russell describes how the
Jaws series of movies, particular the part where "the shark attacked the
helicopter", as well as the "chicken fight" scene were the most
inspired.
All in all, Everything is Everything is a fine
start for a group of talented comic actors, and I definitely think we'll
be seeing more from these guys in the future.