Review of Gentlemen Broncos (2009) by Dan M — 10 Nov 2009

When Nacho Libre was released 3 years ago, many wondered if Jared Hess was going to make it as a mainstream director. Hess landed the Libre gig based on the runaway sleeper success of 2004's Napoleon Dynamite, the Citizen Kane of nerd-chic films. Rather than continuing to try and fit into the Hollywood scene, Hess returns to his independent Napoleon roots with this week's release of Gentlemen Broncos.

Michael Angarano stars as Benjamin, a home-schooled teen and author of several unpublished science fiction novels. His mother Judith (played by Jennifer Coolidge, whom many will remember affectionately as the original Stiffler's Mom in the American Pie movies), sends Ben off to a writer's workshop called Cletus Fest where he meets his idol, a celebrated sci-fi writer named Ronald Chevalier. When Ben submits his latest manuscript called Yeast Lords into a festival writing contest, Chevalier, in a bit a writing slump, steals the story and submits it to his publisher as his own work.

The basic premise of Ben's Yeast Lords story centers on the tale of Bronco (played by Sam Rockwell), a bearded man who is battling an evil lord who is trying to control all the life-giving yeast on a faraway planet. To achieve yeast supremacy, the evil lord captures Bronco, drugs him and steals one of his, er..."jewels" in order to manufacture more yeast. Bronco is saved by his pet bobcat and joins with a bald lady and her brother to gain access to the evil lord's yeast factory, heavily-guarded by cyclops and rocket-launching mechanical deer.

The imaginary Yeast Lords tale is depicted in two different versions throughout the movie; Ben's and Chevalier's. In Ben's version, Bronco is the bearded macho mountain man. in Chevalier's plagiarized version, Bronco is renamed Brutus, a white-haired effeminate transsexual, also played by Rockwell.

Ben, slightly disenchanted with the pompous Chevalier and the entire Cletus Fest experience, returns to his home town, where his friend Tabatha, another aspiring writer, convinces him to allow her friend Lonnie to make his story into a low-budget movie. Ben reluctantly agrees, and watches helplessly as Lonnie and Tabatha butcher is creative work into a romantic B-movie sci-fi romance.

Meanwhile, Ben's single mom enlists a father figure for her son through their church's "guardian angel" program, much like a "Big Brother/Sister" volunteer organization. Ben's guardian angel is Dusty, a long-haired nerd who owns an incontinent boa snake and has a blow dart gun hobby. Dusty also has the hots for Ben's mom and is also enlisted to star as Bronco in Lonnie's Yeast Lords film.

The story comes to a hilarious climax as Ben discovers Chevalier's plagiarism and confronts his fallen hero (while wearing one of his mother's nightgowns). All seems lost for Ben until his devoted mother comes through with a miraculous surprise that saves him from being a simple pathetic unknown victim of injustice.

I don't want to oversell it, but Gentlemen Broncos is perhaps one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. It's definitely the funniest movie of the year. Jared Hess proves you can go home again (even though the entire movie was filmed in and around Salt Lake City, rather than Hess' native Preston, Idaho), returning to the simple nerdy charm that made Napoleon Dynamite so appealing. Even so, Gentlemen Broncos goes way beyond the stupidity and silly ignorance of Napoleon Dynamite and takes nerd-chic to a whole new level.

The cast of Gentlemen Broncos is outstanding, and not just the heavy-hitters like Rockwell and Coolidge. Michael Angarano's Benjamin is perfectly understated, while Mike White is brilliant as the 80s hair band-looking guardian angel.

The biggest standout performance in Gentlemen Broncos belongs to Jermaine Clement as the pretentious Chevalier. Clement captures the role so perfectly, I couldn't help but laugh every time he makes an appearance. From the moment he walks out on stage during the writer's workshop scene wearing a BlueTooth ear piece (which he wears in every single scene) to the moment his dishonesty is discovered, Clement keeps the laughs coming.

Sure, Gentlemen Broncos has a low-budget style reminiscent of other "filmed-in-Utah" local productions, but its humor is so unique and simple, it rises above all others. Hess stays true to his own creative style and shows he can build upon it, much like Wes Anderson has done over the past 15 years. The low-budget feel to Gentlemen Broncos is also part of its appeal, and Hess successfully tells a heart-felt story about a fringe culture (science fiction novelists and the people who love them) without looking down his nose at it.

As I reminisce about Gentlemen Broncos and try to explain to friends, family and co-workers what the movie is about, I can't help but think it's probably the silliest film ever made, and I loved every minute of it.