First time feature film writer-director Michael Traeger is able to gather an extraordinary cast of character actors led by a el duderino-channeling Jeff Bridges but the promising concept of a small town banding together to make a porn film never quite gels.
Despite an enormous amount of thesping power throughout, Traeger’s script never really does the plethora of actors any favors comedically. The mere idea does provide some consistent laughs but there’s too many disjointed scenes that just lay there and never really take off. The film also provides a great example of how narration can be abused when ideas on how to push the narrative forward run dry.
The film starts off in a local small-town bar with Andy Sargentee (Jeff Bridges) sitting at a table by himself and going over some troubling recent events. Failing to keep a job and offer up any semblance of responsibility, his loving wife (Jeanne Tripplehorn) is forced to leave him and take their young son Billy (Alex D. Linz) with her. He loves ‘em but laziness prevents him from actively trying to get them back.
As he reflects over these recent events, he also takes time to introduce the audience to the various denizens of the bar who pop in with no particular order. We have Andy’s best friend Barney (Tim Blake Nelson), Barney’s child-hood crush Helen (Glenne Headly), Moose (Ted Danson), a gay guy who thinks he has the whole time convinced he’s not gay, Otis (William Fichtner), the working-man stiff who’s definitely not gay and Some Idiot (Joe Pantoliano), so named for his nerdy demeanor and shuffling gait.
With a particularly painful memory of visiting his son at his wife’s new husband’s abode where his son has his own basketball court as part of his room (and effectively making his gift of a basketball look rather scrawny in comparison) in tow, Andy screams out an impulsive plan to bring success to him and the town – “We’re gonna make a porn film!”.
Assembling his friends, basically the bar patrons, and enlisting the help of a young video store clerk (Patrick Fugit) to be D.P., Andy gets everyone to throw in $2,000 and pick a job. His pal Barney becomes co-producer, Otis, who wanted the job of just standing around gets an executive producer credit, Some Idiot insists on being writer-director, Moose volunteers to star when his sexuality is challenged – a move that ends disastrously – and so on.
Expected numerous scenes of the group sitting around and discussing porn verbiage with straight faces can only be funny for so long. There is undoubtedly some real heart that courses through the pic though with Andy's relationship with his son a real heartbreaker - one of the final scenes involving Andy rewinding a voice message from Billy is a standout for Bridges.
Also, Barney's quiet longing for the clueless Helen gives the film a few good scenes as does Moose's pathetic worries that he won't be part of the gang if they find out he's gay.
In fact, the more emotionally-charged scenes work quite a bit better than the more frequent, erratic comedy.
By the time the ridiculous climax comes around (although bonus points for the film actually admitting the ridiculousness in some not-so-subtle foreshadowing), the film is almost completely lost as a comedy. Luckily, there’s enough pure acting ability and some surprisingly effective dramatic moments to carry most viewers through the film.
And I guess it must also be said that there’s no real “porn” nudity (unless you count Ted Danson’s ass) so for those of you who might be attracted at that level, the sexual content is pretty much resigned to dialogue. Jeff Bridges blurb “It’s as if Frank Capra made a porn film...” is right on in that respect – you’ll never see porn treated so benignly.
The film is presented in an anamorphic 1.78:1 widescreen transfer and features a commentary with Jeff Bridges, Director Michael Traeger and producer Aaron Ryder.
A Behind the Scenes is also present along with trailers and a cool ‘The Amateurs’ Photography book with pictures taken by Jeff Bridges with Bridges providing commentary.
Considering the gargantuan cast of great actors, the film never really takes off as a comedy - too many scenes that just seem to run out of wit. Yet the film does prove effective in the quiet moments and despite the disappointing script, the instinctive cast provides enough acting energy to attain the film a slight recommendation for fans of the ensemble-driven quirky comedy.
The Amateurs is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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