Post by Casablanca on Aug 17, 2009 6:12:27 GMT -5
"Sanders Vs. Toberts" (Jomo)
This is one of those films that uphold its cheekiness with the utmost of earnest and sincerity. There isn’t any comic pretension, nor much falseness to be found, it is entirely of it’s own making; but at the same time, it is a picture one cannot help but to wonder if a little extravagance couldn’t be spared. If a little more fantastical happenings should have been added. Instead, we get a film that ranges from delightfully humorous, but never funny; to a mixed bag of realism meets fantasy, but never practical, and quite certainly never wholly believable. It’s pleasures and amusements require a bending of your limitations; put intelligence and scope aside; and you may just find yourself having a decent time, so long you don't expect a comedy masterwork.
For the most part, the characters work best when blended; as then, more so then not, there is a fluency of rhythm, character’s joking off of other jokes, and occasionally, a clear, but goofy wit is created. The problem lies, there in, at those moments where this wit is absent, and you get some hokum thrown in the batch, most noticeably occurring in the far-fetched lengths the characters go to prove their points; it just seems to me that there had to have been a more reasonable, more logical method to going about this and ending with the same, clever result of the dad’s news report causing more belief. Though, as I said above, the film begs for a little imagination, a little leniency; because, in the end, everything does tie together nicely, and little things that may seem absurd at the time come back and hit a nice note later on, when it isn't busy fooling around.
A few of my favorite things regarding the film are the little plot twists that kept me reading. I enjoyed the Tammy/Sanders’ interaction, without him knowing her name yet; that was a nice move. As was their ending scene with her grabbing his hand, that brought a little smile to my heart. Sadly, however, not all of the film’s 88 pages went for graciously moving the plot as such, and there was some seemingly chatty nonsense that dragged on for a tad too long, and moments of the film, especially in the second half which felt like it was hauling itself to the next scene. But, overall, the damage is quite palatable and breezy; no paper shredder is needed here, just a couple quick slices and a “Director’s Cut”.
The characters were probably the main moving force of the film, as dialogue took up much more then 75% of the run length, and while they never really developed, and never quite were realized in a turf off of which they started, it wasn’t a script that really demanded that. I would have liked to have seen more done with them, especially regarding their personality being brought more to the surface, individual personality, that is, but nothing serious is done here; we are only left with people who, if no character name’s were listed, would be somewhat indistinctive, with a couple exceptions.
As for the writing, the technical side of it, regarding dialogue and description, the pace was pretty much fine, without much error in the order of events. I think the beginning rushed a bit, which is why I also said that the second half dragged, there was no consistency, which ended up bringing both halves down. There was, however, quite a bit more steadiness in the manner of speaking, but this is not to say the same for the manner of conversation. There is the good; there is the decent; but luckily never the ugly, just the overlong.
Overall, this is a hard film to review, since it all really depends on a feeling; a feeling of warmhearted exuberance, which lasts throughout the film, or so it hopes, and is the only real thing to clasp onto, from an audiences perspective. The story is somewhat predictable, the character’s next lines can be guessed without too much hardship; it’s really only the mood that is left as bliss; but, I shouldn’t be complaining, as what was there, worked pretty well. It’s a good way to solve boredom and to spend a bit of time reading; the more loose and foolish you are feeling, the better time you’ll have; which makes it a film certainly not for cynics, or for those who, with their comedy, like a bit of drama. It’s for those who like their cheese in blocks, and want to save their meat for later.
[P.S. Jomo, I don't do star ratings, because I think it distracts from the actual review, but if I had to, off the top of my head, say something, I'd say I'd give this about out of 3.5 out of 5.]
