Gentlemen Broncos (2009)

Dir: Jared Hess
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Starring: Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Coolidge

This is one weird movie. But I love it.

I remember seeing the trailer for it in a theater and thinking "well, that looks dumb." Cut to last year when my friends Jaime and Andrew had me over to their apartment and decided I needed to watch. They were reciting the lines during the movie, and then afterwards when we went to a bar they continued. Many lines are now inside jokes between friends; sometimes when I say bye to a friend in-the-know, I say "Remember who you are and what you stand for!" while flashing two metal signs, as Jennifer Coolidge's character says to her son Michael Angarano as she sends him off to a writing festival for homeschooled kids.

I digress.

The movie is about the Benjamin, living in the bland surroundings of Utah, much like director Jared Hess' previous film, Napoleon Dynamite. He's a teen sci-fi writer who has hopes for his first novel with a lead character named Bronco who fights evil on distant planets. The great hilarity of the film centers on the fact that his novel is played out on screen several times -- as his own version with Sam Rockwell as a long-haired, tough Bronco, as a version low-budget filmed by his friends, and as a version stolen and plagiarized by his idol, Chevalier (played so well by Jemaine Clement). In Chevalier's version, Bronco is now Brutus, and Sam Rockwell plays him as well, but this time in a pink suit, long blond hair, and lispy accent.

When you have Sam Rockwell saying lines like--"Oh my holy crap, surveillance does... I hate those. This is ridiculous, that's the most well guarded yeast factory I've ever seen!"--you know it's a different kind of movie. But Rockwell owns both characters and all their ridiculousness. If you haven't gotten it yet, this movie is absolutely crazy. And not everyone will like it, enjoy it, or even get why people are laughing at the random (and sometimes gross) jokes. But I did!

Proceed at your own risk. If you enjoyed this movie for what it is, we'd probably be friends.

The Best: Sam Rockwell, hands down. The guy puts everything into his roles no matter how weird. His tackling of two roles is the best part of the movie.

Fact: The opening credits have a series of fake sci-fi novels to showcase the stars. The cover artwork was created by acclaimed fantasy and science fiction artists Kelly Freas and David Lee Anderson.

Rating: ******** (8 out of 10)