So, this week’s film has the benefit of being the following act to last week’s disappointing (or, you know, downright bad) Bellflower. It’s not really fair, honestly, because whatever movie you pick, it’s probably going to be better outright. So it goes. This week’s movie was the comedic spin on the summer slasher flick, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.
So, it’s a fun premise, and it stays true to objective throughout its entire presentation. Conceptually, it’s a “reverse slasher film”, where the annoying college kids are the killers and the backwoods hillbillies are the victims on the run, all orchestrated through a series of miscommunication. It ends up being pretty enjoyable, but if it sounds a little sitcom-y it’s because it is. Director Eli Craig’s spent some time in TV land before working on this feature, and the comedy-of-errors set up inter-spliced with underdog romance is pretty much the stuff sitcom dreams are made of, and most don’t turn out to be all that great. T&D does just fine though, often working in the upper realms of the genre, though admittedly it’s not a genre I usually find all that entertaining (see Frasier, Three’s Company, etc.)
“I swear, it will be completely platonic”
One thing this movie really has working for it is the undeniable chemistry between the two protagonists. It’s really easy to root for them, and their acting is pretty solid. And, they have some genuinely funny lines and a good sense of timing. The directing is also pretty sensible and doesn’t dip into the well of amateur student-director schlock (man, I am being really hard on Bellflower, huh?)
Overall a totally fine movie. A bit slow at points, and it’s the old comedy-of-errors formula, but at an hour and a half it doesn’t play itself out too much.
Final grade: B-