"Gentlemen Broncos" was a good reminder that tags like independent, low-budget and quirky don't guarantee a profound, or even remotely worthwhile movie.
And director Jared Hess really needs to stop making movies if this is his best idea. Following "Napoleon Dynamite" - which only succeeded because teenagers liked to imitate the lines - Hess could have either gone up or down with witty and unusual storylines. With "Gentlemen Broncos" Hess has fallen into the crag of absolute ridiculousness.
The plot centers on the angst of Benjamin (Michael Angarano), an introverted teen who lives with his single mom (Jennifer Coolidge) and writes science-fiction stories. Dirt-poor, Coolidge tries to sell her terribly designed nightgowns. But Benjamin's life gets more interesting when he attends Cletus Fest - a camp for writers in Utah - where he meets his idol, Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement) to discover he may not be the genius Benjamin once thought. He also meets the annoying and bossy, Tabatha, and her extremely odd and creepy 'filmmaker' friend.
The plot takes a predictable turn when Chevalier plagiarizes Benjamin's story "Yeast Lords: The Bronco Years." To add to the looseness of the plot, the film goes back and forth between dramatized versions of both Benjamin's story and Chevalier's even worse version.
From this point on - between grotesque projectile vomit, stags rigged to be machine guns and terrible fringe characters - you're on the edge of your seat, waiting desperately for the film to reach a conclusion.
The sci-fi element was so extreme that it was hard to know if the film was supposed to be a satire of an entire literary genre. While cringing during the sections of the film with Cyclops soldiers straight out of a bad '80s sci-fi movie and bra-cannons that shot lasers, Benjamin's character does not entirely escape interest. For a terrible script, Angarano plays the part well and given a few years and better movies he could become an actor worth talking about.
Part of that may have more to do with the terrifying thought that there might be people in real life like these people-which would be terribly sad. With that fear in mind, it's nice to see Benjamin step up and defend his mom after an upsetting encounter with a potential buyer for her clothing line and reclaim his creative rights. And you really look forward to Chevalier's downfall as a pretentious sci-fi author who has no moral qualms, not to mention a majorly annoying voice.
Still, "Gentlemen Broncos" has too many loose ends and nonsensical characters who don't achieve anything besides irritating viewers. Even sympathy for Benjamin couldn't keep me from wanting to leave the theater.
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