Silent Humor

By Mr D Stevens

 This is a well made comedy drama, starring Ray McKinnon in two roles as Randy Pearson, a good natured happy go lucky “big shot” who owns a number of businesses, but is currently in a financial mess, and Cecil his twin brother.

Randy happens to borrow money from a loan shark, which unbeknown to him is connected with the Mob. Soon afterwards he starts getting phone calls from a Mob guy, Franco played by Paul Ben-Victor (Tombstone) as to when and how he is going to settle his debt, Randy tries to explain that as hard as he has tried he cannot come up with the money for the debt as well as his increasing debt with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).

After asking around and finding out that he could be in some serious trouble with the Mafia, Randy contemplates selling one of his businesses to Elmore Culpepper where Burt Reynolds (Boogie Nights) does a short cameo.

Surprisingly Franco has a solution to his financial troubles, and that involves sending Tino Armani played surprisingly well by Walton Goggins (unrecognisable from his character in The Shield), to sort out his financial troubles, even so much as to pay off the IRS. On their first meeting Randy is amazed to find out that Tino has the same country dialect as he does, to which Tino responds he never judges people by the pigment in their skin or their dialect. After a while Randy is even more impressed by how seemingly good natured Tino is, and soon all in the small community are besotted by Tino. He even manages to improve the menu on one of Randy’s restaurant businesses that had so many people queueing to get in when Randy arrived he automatically assumed there was an incident and that the police had been called. At this stage it should be mentioned Randy has an on-going problem with one of the local law enforcement officers Griff Postell, played by Brent Briscoe (Mulholland Drive) who seems to have it in for him at every opportunity, since Griff blames him for a “whooping” he gave him in the third grade, which many witnessed, but Griff subsequently gave Randy a “whooping” in the sixth grade, but unfortunately no one witnessed it.

As well as trying to solve his financial troubles, Randy has to cope with his wife Charlotte, played by the lovely Lisa Blount (The Accountant) newly acquired Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from dancing lessons she has been giving, which has left her a little depressed, and trying to patch the relationship with his gay twin brother and his partner Bill played by Tim DeKay (The Russell Girl). A relationship Randy has never accepted, much to the annoyance of his twin and his partner.

This is a surprisingly genial comedy drama, and it contains some classic scenes, especially where Randy is on the phone to Franco while at a rubbish tip.

Ray McKinnon is effortlessly adept between the two roles, and it is an entertaining movie many will enjoy.

Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews

How The Art Of The Unspoken Word Can Be Funny

Movie reviews The Assassination of a High School President

By Mr D Stevens

 Movie reviews this week looks at the suspense thriller The Assassination of a High School President.

It stars Reece Thompson as Bobby Funke (he constantly has to remind everyone his name is not “funky” but it doesn’t stop anyone from calling him that) and the lovely Mischa Barton (St. Trinians) as Francesca Fachini, the girlfriend of the High School President.

Bobby is trying to write a paper for the local school and from it get acceptance into North Western’s journalist programme, he first has to get the approval of the head columnist Clara played by Melonie Diaz (Be Kind Rewind) who Bobby also likes, but
not as much as he likes the girlfriend of the High School President Patrick Moore played by Paul Taylor, something about this reminds me of “Bart got a room”.

It turns out someone has stolen the entire schools SAT’s from the Principal’s locker, Principal Kirkpatrick a former war veteran who doesn’t waste anytime reminding the students how patriotic it is to fight for one’s country, played hilariously by Bruce Willis (Die Hard). He apparently has a list of the usual suspects, and calls them in, including Bobby, Bobby innocently asks the reason why he has been summoned, to which Principal Kirkpatrick says “for chewing gum”. Apparently Principal Kirkpatrick is a stickler about gum chewing, there is a funny scene where Bobby is trying to convey some important information to the Principal, but replies after a much heated conversation with “is that gum in your mouth”?

Bobby is given an opportunity to find out who stole the schools SAT’s by the Principal, and he sees this as his big chance to get into North Western, if he can identify the thief/thieves with a well written story.

Although unrealistic, he takes the role of an investigative journalist, interviewing all the suspects, and they all seem candid, which is a little unrealistic for high school, but that doesn’t ruin a great story.

There is a well played scene, where Bobby is interviewing the little sister of the High School President, Chrissy Moore played by Gabrielle Brennan, she tells him she will tell him all of Patrick’s secrets if he gets her a unicorn, to which he replies unicorns aren’t real, and she makes a scowl pointing at she wants one of the unicorn dolls they are surrounded by.

In his investigations Bobby inevitably gets the attention of the current High School President’s girlfriend, and amazing as it seems she falls for him after his article, much to the surprise of all involved, there is a great scene where he asks her what she sees in him, to which she replies she gets the feeling he would still look at her in the same way if there was no school.

He also interviews the Vice-President played by Luke Grimes (Ryan Lafferty in Brothers and Sisters), the half-brother of Francesca, who seems at first to have no problems with Byron going out with his half-sister.

It is an interesting story, focusing on the challenges of high school for acceptance, and getting along with those who are popular. It also has a few unforeseen twists and plots that makes it that little bit more interesting, and Bobby gets to find out that not everything is what it seems.

Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews

silent comedy

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