Review of Gentlemen Broncos (2009) by Robert C — 22 Jun 2010

After striking out with his 2006 Jack Black vehicle "Nacho Libre," director/co-writer Jared Hess returns to his roots ("Napoleon Dynamite") for another dose of rural delusion...and one of the most fascinatingly grotesque casts of extras in cinema.

What's good about "Gentlemen Broncos"? Mainly, the cast, led by Jemaine Clement ("Flight of the Conchords") as fantastically self-important science fiction luminary, Dr. Robert Chevalier. (His drawl, somewhere between Vincent D'Onofrio's "Ed Wood" Orson Welles and Bill Hader's Vincent Price is, uh...dynamite). Mike White ("School of Rock") steps in as a pasty, lethargic Big Brother with a penchant for homemade blow darts and incontinent snakes. And Sam Rockwell ("Choke") kills first as the beastly alpha male Bronco, then the absurdly effeminate Brutus in the film's delightfully melodramatic/trippy sidetracks into the 70s-kitsch sci-fi drama inspired by the stolen novella. These bits might be the best part of the film...if you're under the influence.

What's bad about "Gentlemen Broncos"? Mostly that the humor tends to miss. A lot of it is based on watching awkward human beings attempting to interact or discovering their status as hopeless losers (although some of them do earn some redemption by the end of the film). This quality is reminiscent of "Napoleon Dynamite's" humor, so if you weren't into that film (I wasn't), you probably won't like this one, either.