Random Encounters

The person that made the trailer for this movie did an excellent job. It constructed a movie that was funny, quirky, showed off interesting characters, and made me want to see it.

Then I started reading the reviews. Not just the reviews by critics, since I rarely tend to go by them, but of those that liked director Jare Hess’ other two films. (Napoleon Dynamite and Nocho Libre.) I love Napleon Dynamite. It is one of those movies that will be watched once a year or so with me randomly spouting lines from the movie at odd times. I really loved the idea behind Gentlemen Broncos too, but the reviews made my heart sink just a little bit.

Not that I ever let a review define how I view a movie.

Still I didn’t get around to watching Gentlemen Broncos until this weekend. I finally was able to view the movie I had really wanted to see.

So. How did I like it?

There are two different answers to that, one short and one a bit longer.

The short answer is: Not much, I was really disappointed in what I saw.

The long answer is this.

The movie is awkward. This isn’t the Napoleon Dynamite love it or hate it awkward either. It is more like a bad date. A date that you really don’t want to be on and you also know your date doesn’t want to be there. Yet you are both polite, the meal had been ordered, and you want to finish the food So you try to finish the meal and keep from boredom by striking up conversation with one another. Nothing seems to gel, the conversation is flat and stilted, and you go home thinking you enjoyed the food but wishing you had felt comfortable. You wanted to like the person better then you do but you know that it just didn’t happen. She reminds you of the date you had with her big sister but things are not quite the same.

I kept wanting to like this movie. There are parts in it that reminded me of real life, like when the main character and his female interest are talking about their writing. I’ve been in that conversation a million times with people I barely know. I understand how it is to go to a writer’s conference not knowing anyone. I’ve also felt the pang of disappointment when someone you looked up to from afar doesn’t quite measure up to how you want him or her to be.

The story is one I wanted to work. A failing but once successful novelist steals the work of a young writer. That works, it could be both dramatic and comedy gold. There is so much you could do with that premise.

Yet the premise isn’t used very well here. Instead of focusing in on the core of the story, the movie is filled with a lot of situations that just don’t really matter. This worked in Napoleon Dynamite, a movie that was able to rise above the awkwardness and show a slice of Napleon’s life, but it does not work here.

I think this movie had a chance to be so much better then it actually is.

I love the scenes depicting the two different versions of the same story. Those were great and is one of the best things about the Gentlemen Broncos

Loni, the film director, particularly annoyed me. In fact the whole subplot where he makes a film based on the main character’s work annoyed me. That whole section is one that should have been edited out of the script before filming even started.

The church angel could have been explained in more detail with more interaction between him and the main character’s mom.

The character of the writer Chevalier should’ve been explored more. He comes off as a very cardboard character but one that doesn’t have to be cardboard. Yet there is more to him, more then you see.

The main character… I think they did a good job with how he handled the experiences. With mostly resignation and later determination. Again he felt a little flat, his motivations through the movie not really that clear.

The female writer. There wasn’t enough of interaction between her and the main character. The interaction was so sparse… Some of it was just weird and not in a good way. Her kissing him right after he puked? It wasn’t funny, it was kind of disgusting.

The film was lopsided with most of the action happening at the end. I actually really enjoyed the end of the movie, from the scene where the mom goes to sell her wares on, but the lead up to it wasn’t that fun.

IT feels like the director wanted to make another Napoleon Dynamite but failed. He if he had focused on the strengths of the story while cutting alot of the fat, it would be a better movie. I know the trailer showed me a movie I wanted to see but the film did not live up to that expectation.

Now I want to go through and rewrite Gentlemen Broncos into the vision I saw in my head when I first saw the trailer…