(Originally published on Blogcritics.org)
Two films at the Los Angeles Film Festival, June 10-18, explore the Dude weltanschauung to bring us all closer to a profound understanding of the essence of dudeness. (Dude, that was heavy.)
Flock of Dudes looks at what happens when you put off becoming your father for too long. Dude Bro Party Massacre III suggests that maybe dudeness could be a topic for satire.
Flock of Dudes
Flock of Dudes should have been absolutely hilarious. It has a collection of some of the best TV comedy talent ever assembled for one film. It was funny, but not as funny as it should have been.
The cast includes Hannah Simone (New Girl), Eric André (Man Seeking Woman, Two Broke Girls), Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory), Hilary Duff (Gossip Girl) and Marc Maron (Maron).
The story revolves around Adam, played by Chris D’Elia (Undateable, Whitney) and his college friends who have kept living the college party lifestyle well into the part of their life when gray hairs begin to appear.
The crisis that sets the story rolling occurs when Adam loses his finance, played by Jamie Chung (Once Upon a Time, The Hangover Part III), because of his immature behavior and because he and his friends are evicted, forgetting to pay the rent, again.
Adam’s younger brother David, played by Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect, Wreck-It Ralph), institutes an intervention on behalf of his brother. The dudes must stop partying and even associating with each other for six months until David’s wedding. Penalties for non-compliance include no Super Bowl pool and no fantasy baseball. How the flock of dudes deals with these threatening circumstances, takes up the second act.
Adam finds help in his new dude-less world from co-worker Beth, played by Simone. Both of them give convincing performances. Cameos by Ray Liotta (Field of Dreams, Hannibal) and Bryan Callen (MADtv) both add to the color and craziness of the film.
Adam sees his dude friends coping better with the challenge than he is. Ultimately, if somewhat predictably, both Adam and Beth learn about commitment and maturity.
To find out when you can join the flock, check out the film’s Facebook page.
Dude Bro Party Massacre III
Dude Bro Party Massacre III dials up the craziness. The conceit of this film is that you are not really watching a new movie (you are), but a rescued VHS recording of a film which, like its two prequels, was ordered destroyed, because of its grossness, by President Reagan. It only exists today, we’re told, because it was taped off the TV by a twelve year old without his parents’ knowledge.
The film stars Alec Owen (Members Only, Walking in LA) as Brent and his older twin brother Brock. Or was that the other way around? Anyway, the younger brother is trying to solve the mystery of his older brother’s disappearance. Hint: It happened at a dude bro party at a cabin in the woods next to a lake. To find clues, he must join his brother’s old fraternity.
This film also features a selection of better known personalities. Patton Oswald plays the local police chief who is more concerned with getting rid of the frat boys than solving the crime. Andrew W.K. plays one of the dudes and Larry King does a cameo as Coach Handsey.
Two good performances are put in by newcomers Brian Firenzi as Officer Sminkle and Maria Del Carmen as his partner.
The film has three directors and ten writers. This rather unorthodox production situation is the result of the film’s creation by 5-Second Films, famous for five second films. This is the group’s first foray into a feature length production, or as they called it, “a 6,060 second film”.
Also filed under filmic weirdness is the fact that the film was made on a professional quality, super high-definition Red Camera. It was then recorded onto a real VHS recorder to give it the proper low-quality look, and then re-digitized.
Lots of fraternity grossness and more spurting blood than the entire runs of House and Grey’s Anatomy combined, yield some funny and gross moments. To find out when the Dude Bro Party Massacre III will be available for viewing in your cabin in the woods, check their Kickstarter page or Facebook page.
I can’t wait for Dude Bro Party Massacre I and II to come out.
