Hello ladies and gentlemen, Muldoon here from the heart of Fantastic Fest 2014. Last night I fully expected to check out THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN, until I found out there was a movie playing against it that I couldn't pass up, another gem from Steffen Haars and Flip Van der Kuil (the absurd comedic geniuses from NEW KIDS TURBO). Thank heavens, because what followed was an hour and a half of pure enjoyment, an ellegantly shot film covering some of the most politically incorrect jokes I've seen on screen in years. I was cracking up left and right the entire film, so if you enjoyed NEW KIDS TURBO and NEW KIDS NITRO, then you absolutely have got to check this one out.
BROS tell the story of two brothers who at a young age get a fatherly SHALLOW HALL life lesson on how to treat women. It is of course a misogynistic "warp your worldview" drop of knowledge that then has the kiddos forming a pact to never be in a relationship with women, only use them for sex, and never get tied down to one. Boom, the central premise of the movie has been established. The movie takes place when these two brothers are in their thirties, smoking dope, hitting up clubs, and sexing up gaggles of gals nightly. Max, played by Tim Haars, is a grown man working in a dying video store. On the daily he puts up with smart-ass kids, attempted robberies, and has a few regulars - but his life's kind of empty as you can imagine. He watches RAMBO on repeat, spends his work time on the phone with his adopted brother, Daniel Arends, playing a game of "if you had to pick X, Y, or Z, which one would you have sex with?" (Juvenile, silly, fun.) And let's be clear here, these are two people who spend their time playing Nintendo, smoking weed, and randomly treating women like toys, so it's understood that they're not someone you're not supposed to look up to.
This film is not for the easily offended. It pokes fun at all sorts of groups, but most importantly pokes fun at the two leads and how their upbringing has created a lack of true happiness in their adult lives. No, this isn't a rehash of NEW KIDS TURBO where the leads are all kind of assholes; these two are more fluffy versions of that. This film felt like it was for a much wider audience than their NEW KIDS stuff, and it was incredibly refreshing to see they weren't just lifting the jokes that worked in their previous films and sticking them into a new one. The comedies we get in the US are very much set up with, build up > punch line, so when a movie like this gives you a build up > punch line > added next level joke - it's amazing. When it all boils down to it, that is the reason this movie works so well, that's the reason I enjoyed it so much. Where we're all used to a joke being over, they give you a left hook with another added bonus. That's something that can't be taught, but has to come after years and years of telling jokes visually, a skill the two directors here very much have locked down.
The characters, the absurdity of so many situations, mixed with the adolescent humor of fart jokes, sex jokes, and references to popular movies (yes, they make direct references to JAWS; RAMBO; SCARFACE; and more - beautifully) made this film utterly enjoyable. It's not just crass potty jokes, but actually shot really, really well. It's slick, deliberate, and rather beautiful at times. This isn't a lazily created film at all, and that shows with the level of detail in each shot, set up, camera move. I can't imagine how many times they'd have to redo a take to get it just right (like hitting a parked moped), but they did and yes - take the jokes/humor out and you've still got an impressively shot film with interesting transitions and unique set ups that rival any Michael Bay inspired music videos out there now.
HOT ROD, SUPERBAD, HAROLD AND KUMAR - if you like those movies, then you'll get a kick in the face from this one. They take it to that extra level, the divisive one where half the jokes will offend the uptight (and be in poor taste mind you) while having the other half dying of laughter. In the screening I was at, I don't think there was any one moment where one person in the audience wasn't laughing. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and hope folks in the US (or anywhere honestly) get to see it. I just can't wait to see what these guys come up with next! I loved this movie and am sure it'll become a cult classic, it's the intelligence of SOUTH PARK rolled into a style that's uniquely its own. This is like HAROLD AND KUMAR, but where that movie was perfect in so many ways, where it drew the line of inappropriate - these guys blew way the hell over it.
If you're in Austin, they're having another screening on Tuesday the 23rd at 6:00PM at the South Lamar Drafthouse as part of Fantastic Fest (you can still buy a ticket though).
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
