Hey there everyone, looks like Dave Foley's new film sounds pretty darn enticing. I hope it gets out there for all of us to judge for ourselves. I hate potentially fun movies that sit in cans gathering the scent of ammonia. Films deserve light showing through them, and a screen to fall upon. Let's see what else we hear about this one...
Some ugly movie news and a review you might be interested in.
As part of the "Toyota Film Festival" in New York, there was a series of independant comedy films shown at The Screening Room. On the top of the bill was "The Wrong Guy," a film Co-Produced, Co-Written, and starring David Foley.
The movie is knockout hilarious for Foley and non-Foley fans alike. It starts out slow, with some, frankly, hackneyed "corporate office humor" that had me squirming in my seat. But that is swiftly jettisoned after the first five minutes, and it is belly laughs the whole rest of the way.
The basic story: Dave Foley stars as Nelson Hibbert, a corporate VP who walks into his boss' office only to find him murdered. Nelson freaks out, gets his fingerprints everywhere, and then flees the scene, covered in his boss' blood. Now convinced that he's the prime suspect, Nelson goes on the lam. What he doesn't realize is that a security camera caught the whole murder on tape, so the police already know who the real killer is. They aren't even LOOKING for him. Of course, the killer is....
The performances, once the movie is rolling, are almost all top notch. Foley is dead on... well, Foley. Jennifer Tilley is also funny as the narcoleptic love intrest, and Dave Higgins (Of 'Storm of the Century' fame), is perfect as the supervillan who is convinced that the bumbling, wimpy Nelson is some sort of mastermind detective.
The movie isn't perfect. The opening scenes (which are vital to the plot), are annoying one-dimensional office humor. Similarly, the investigating police officers sort of fall flat. I squrimed through almost every one of their scenes, but luckily those scenes were short, and then it was back to Foley, Higgins, and Tilley. And no, luckily this is not a huge Kids in the Hall skit (though fans will eat it up), and it is far funnier than Brain Candy.
I'd like to end this review of "The Wrong Guy" by saying, "If you like strong, original humor with an absurdist twist, then you've gotta see this movie." However, that's where the ugliness comes in. Seeing the movie.
Foley was actually on hand at the Screening Room to introduce this film. That was very cool, but what he had to say was not. In his introduction, he told of how the movie's original production house, Buena Vista, went out of business during production. Then right after that, their Canadian backing, Paragon pictures, ALSO went belly up. Now the movie floats in the bottomless depths of Disney limbo, and from hearing Dave talk, it doesn't sound like it will ever see the light of day. This would really suck, because it's a winner.
Sidenote: As if in further evidence of this curse, the film slipped off sprockets about halfway through the movie. Oops! Dave was really cool about it tho, tossing out some lighthearted quips during the blackout. Shame that it happened, though, because the print was pristine; probably never even screened before. Too bad the projector had to eat it.
BTW, Foley had also been on Conan friday night (the night before the screening) talking it up about "The Wrong Guy." I hope the 30-second clip that they showed then will not be the only bit of this movie that gets national exposure! Disney ought to wake up and release this movie.
Footnote: Two other short films were screened along with "The Wrong Guy." One of them was Steven Wright's "One Soldier." It is a MUST for Steven Wright fans. It is set during the Civil War and... well, a description is useless. You've just gotta see it, any way that you can.
Hope this is of interest,
Duj
