Review of The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico (2005) by Richard C — 27 Dec 2007

A sort-of cult film in the Canadian alt-culture, I found Mabbott's mock-rockumentary to be meandering, dull, and largely pointless...

Betraying a charismatic performance by indie CanRock hero Matt Murphy as Terrifico by cutting down on his screen time, Mabbott gives us not nearly enough of what makes this film work on rare occasions: Murphy and his fellow musicians (I spotted members of Cuff the Duke and Thrush Hermit at least) making simple, joyful rustic tunes and delightfully sending up rock-star excess...

But with such a promising core, nothing is accomplished: there are maybe two good tunes and possibly five laughs in the entire running time, and far too many famous talking heads delivering lines that Murphy's Terrifico would have made much funnier. And anyway, there's only so much laughter to be rung out of a rock star being blitzed on booze and drugs. "Terrifico" wants to be a countrified Canadian "Spinal Tap", but instead comes off more like that film's "Stonehenge" sequence: a rather ludicrous misfire.