Review of Gentlemen Broncos (2009) by Sean L — 15 May 2011

When Benjamin, an aspiring young science fiction author, attends a writers' workshop, his latest work is quickly lifted and re-imagined by two of his fellow campers. One, an obnoxious small-scale filmmaker, does so with the creator's blessing while the other, an established novelist, claims the work as his own.

Written and directed by Jared Hess, who was also responsible for Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, this eccentric comedy lands somewhere in between the hypnotic success of the former and the disappointing shortfalls of the latter.

The opening act is a real riot, with quirky, colorful characters stepping out of the wallpaper around every corner and amazing over-the-top visualizations of Benjamin's work that treat his gorgeously hokey material with unmasked deference.

While those big-screen interpretations of his hilariously awful novel continue to bring the goods throughout the film (with competing visions from the two other writers' interpretations raising the bar) the primary storyline doesn't keep pace.

The awkward, passionately inept cast doesn't quite have the charm of Napoleon or Pedro, (with the exception of Jermaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords, who's outstanding as selfish sci-fi plagiarist Ronald Chevalier) and there's a notable lack of a top-of-the-mountain moment that was so present in Dynamite's dance scene.

It's a spiritual successor that had potential, but never completely rises to the moment.