Written by: Jared and Jerusha Hess.
Starring: Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Coolidge, Suzanne May, and Halley Feiffer.
Cinematography: Munn Powell.
Edited by: Yuka Ruell.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Year of release: 2009.
Run time: 90 minutes.
Country: United States.
Budget: $10 Million.
Gross Revenue: $118, 492.
So I’m back after a moderate hiatus that involved enrolling into a degree and withdrawing from it, freaking out about wasting the past five years of my life on a degree that is vocationally impotent, and wondering what the hell I’m gonna do with the rest of my life (I just had a flashback to the SNL skit featuring Chris Farley as the motivational speaker Matt Foley: “Now what are you gonna do with your life!”). To cut to the chase, I haven’t really been watching too many movies lately.
I did happen to catch Gentlemen Broncos at a friend’s house. It’s the third feature length film from the Hess brothers, who made Napoleon Dynamite, which was really popular back when it was released in 2004. Gentlemen Broncos contains the same kind of absurd humour as Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, but I’m almost sad to say that I didn’t like this one much at all. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few funny moments in it, but the movie was just so weird that it was alienating.
Basically it’s about Benjamin, a home-schooled teenage boy who writes sci-fi stories in the style of L. Ron Hubbard, and who attends a writing camp guest lectured by his favourite author, Dr. Ronald Chevalier. After submitting his story ‘Yeast Lords’ to the camp’s competition, Chevalier—who is hard up for story ideas—steals it and publishes it as his own original work. The movie is basically about how all of this unfolds in typical Napoleon Dynamite fashion.
I think it’s safe to say that the events of this film, Nacho Libre, and Napoleon Dynamite all occur in the same fictional universe. All three movies are stylistically similar, and all contain the same humour. It just so happens that the universe is a really fucking weird one. I’m no prude when it comes to weirdness (I gave Splice four and a half stars!), but there is something about the weirdness in these movies that just freaks me out. The characters are so cold in their interactions with each other; even the loving relationship between Benjamin and his mother—played quite well by Jennifer Coolidge—is marked by a kind of barrier to communication. They never seem to talk to each other for longer than one sentence. It’s almost as if every character suffers from some form of autism. Of course, this is where the humour lies; the best laughs coming from the awkwardness of these interactions. I don't know why I didn't like it. I guess it's just that I found such scenes as the one where Benjamin massages lotion into the hands of the lead female character-- whom he has just met-- while some other guy gently hums in her ear, as too cringe worthy to take. This style of humour is very much like a rich mud cake; good in small slices.
It’s not all bad though. Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Concords fame absolutely steals the show as Dr. Ronald Chevalier, the campy science fiction author who published his first trilogy ‘The Cyborg Harpies’ at the age of fifteen. Clement is in his element, delivering such lines as: “...and finally we have a young-ling trying to penetrate the secrets of the human mind. You won't do it like that young-ling, you must use friendship” with such absurd seriousness that you’d have to be a Psychlo not to find it funny.
All in all, Gentlemen Broncos misfires more than it hits. It performed dismally at the box-office, but we can’t hold that against it. I’m sure that it will become a cult classic amongst the group of dedicated Hess fans, and rightly so. It’s got some great comedic beats, but I just didn’t get this one.
Two stars:
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