Indie Watch
Zero Charisma
By Dan Krovich
October 10, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
VOD Pick of the Week
Zero Charisma
Geek culture has gone mainstream. Things that would have gotten you ostracized in the past, like comic books, Lord of the Rings, and gaming, have become some of the most popular and successful entertainment options. It’s hip to be square. Amongst the new-fangled geek chic, there still exists the old-fashioned, outsider nerd. Zero Charisma hilariously takes on geek culture and the clash between the traditionalists and those who co-opt the culture.
Scott Weidemeyer is overweight and living for free at his grandmother’s house while working a menial job as a delivery boy for a Taco and Donut restaurant. His weekly respite comes when he serves as game master for the fantasy role-playing world he designed himself. Scott is a purist, eschewing World of Warcraft and its like in favor of the traditional communal storytelling aspect of table top gaming. He is also overbearing, using his role a game master to bully his friends leaving himself as an outcast.
When one of the regular players leaves the group, Scott is forced to scramble to fill the spot. When he meets Miles at the local gaming shop, he offers him the spot, a decision that backfires as it turns out he is Scott’s nemesis. Miles is the “cool nerd” type of the hipster variety. He’s better looking, has a hot girlfriend, and runs a popular movie review website. He immediately clashes with Scott because he does not treat the game with the reverence that it deserves and instead just considers it a goofy fun time. He also quickly wins over Scott’s friends who are excited to be accepted by someone so popular.
Things are further complicated by the return of Scott’s estranged mother and her new boyfriend. She has her eye on the house that Scott assumed his grandmother would leave to him, and the fact that the grandmother is still very much alive does not deter them from fighting over the inheritance. His mother’s reappearance in his life also brings back some unhappy childhood memories of abandonment.
In Scott, actor Sam Eidson creates a character that is at the same time obnoxious and vulnerable. His lack of social skills and overbearing nature make him someone you wouldn’t want to spend much time around, but at the same time enough context is given to make him a sympathetic character. The movie completely hinges on this performance, and Eidson creates a memorable character.
Even if you only have a passing acquaintance with all things geek, you will likely find something to relate to in Zero Charisma. Whether you played Dungeons and Dragons in high school or ever had a debate with your friends about which is the faster spacecraft, the Starship Enterprise or the Millennium Falcon, you will see yourself or people you know in the characters. Zero Charisma lovingly and hilariously pokes fun at the stereotypes of geek culture that are often rooted in an element of truth.
Available at Vudu
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu
New releases for October 11th
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane: Completed in 2006, the non-release of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane has reached a mini cult status. The horror film created a buzz at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and was picked up for distribution, but due to a series of convolutions is just now being released. Director Jonathan Levine has had three movies (The Wackness, 50/50, and Warm Bodies) in the meantime. The film is pretty standard teen horror movie fare. Mandy Lane is a pure, virginal teenager who is desired by the high school boys who all want to be the one to make her not so pure and virginal. When one of the boys has a party at his family’s isolated ranch he invites her along. Of course, a bunch of teens in an isolated location is not complete without a crazed killer on the loose, and the party ends in a night of bloodshed.
Available at Vudu
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu
Broadway Idiot: When you think of punk rock, your mind doesn’t normally follow the natural progression to Broadway. The documentary Broadway Idiot follows the evolution of the Green Day album American Idiot into a successful Broadway musical.
Available at Vudu
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu
Escape from Tomorrow: Thought to be un-releasable when it premiered at Sundance, Escape from Tomorrow opens this weekend. Filmed without permission almost completely at Disney theme parks, the film contrasts the “happiest place on Earth” with a sinister tale. A husband and father of two learns that he has lost his job on the day of a family trip of amusement park hopping. Not wanting to spoil the vacation, he keeps the news to himself, but the supposed to be fun-filled day soon turns into a surreal nightmare of paranoid visions.
Available at Vudu
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu
God Loves Uganda: Oscar winning director Roger Ross Williams (you may remember him as the Documentary Short Film Oscar winner whose speech got Kanyed by a former producer) returns with the feature documentary, God Loves Uganda. The film traces the influence of the American Evangelical movement in Uganda’s adoption of Biblical law including the death penalty for homosexuality.
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete: Fourteen-year-old Mister and nine-year-old Pete are left to fend for themselves in the Brooklyn projects during the hot summer when their mothers are taken into custody by authorities. Dodging child protective services, they are determined to make it on their own amidst the violence and shady characters who inhabit their neighborhood.
Available at Vudu
Available at iTunes
Available at Vudu