A Film With Me In It, Ian Fitzgibbon (2008 Ireland Comedy)

Characters: 2
Screenplay: 2
Cinematography: 2
Emotional: 1

Overall: 2.0

The film does a good job of walking the line between tasteful and tasteless of dark comedy. Nothing in this film makes sense or is logical, but it isn't supposed to; each ridiculous twist and turn can be amusing. To me, it was amusing and I had a few laughs, but they can be a little sparse. And in the end, it leaves you feeling a bit empty. While that may be the point of the film, it also feels a bit like a television episode that was dragged on. Overall, I found it a good experience.

The characters are stupid and illogical. Entertainment depends on whether or not one can get over this fact. At times I could laugh, but at times I was just dumbstruck. The actors also did a pretty good job of appearing similarly dumbstruck. Huberman, particularly, did quite well. Moran is his usual self.

Not only is it hard to develop any kind of connection with the characters, but they can induce hate. At times, I just can't turn off shoe-switching. "WHY, YOU FOOL!" I scream in my head, but they never seem to hear me. Sometimes inducing this kind of emotion is good, but they overdid it and it can definitely begin to shift to annoyance, ruining the suspension of disbelief.

The screenplay was absurd, in a good way, but could have flown better. The characters are introduced haphazardly and the buildup is very slow. Eventually I began wondering where the dead bodies were. The clear foreshadowing does create an interesting little "whose gonna get it" atmosphere, but they needed to anchor more of the script around it. If it was worked and teased a bit more, it would've been great. It got better as the bodies began piling up and the absurdities amounted.

The tone of the film started off teetering between funny and serious, so some parts left the viewer uncertain as to how to feel. The ending expunged on the humor created and is a hate it or love it thing.

The cinematography, on the other hand, was surprisingly aesthetic. With no flair, the angles and composition is well done for a low budget film.

While I was never really drawn into the film, I enjoyed the brief nonsensical departure from sane people.