Cyclops there. Cyclops there.
When I first saw the previews to Gentlemen Broncos I kind of knew what to expect. It was a very dry comedy that mainly depended on the players more than it did the writing. That’s what made Napoleon Dynamite so special; Jon Heder’s performance as the dumb protagonist Napoleon. Anyway, Gentlemen Broncos follows the same storyline, but without a strong lead. Please don’t misunderstand that statement; Michael Angarano is a wonderful Benjamin, it’s just that his character is too self-aware of his surroundings and his situation. Unlike Napoleon and Jack Black’s Nacho, Benjamin knows he is destined for more and it sort of gets in the way of the comedy. You end up feeling awful for his character rather than giving small amounts of sympathy.
If you’ve never seen the trailer for the movie, Benjamin is a budding writer that is a shut-in. He lives with his mom and he creates very odd stories, one in particular is about a hero named Bronco. When he goes to writing camp he ends up meeting his ‘hero’ a science fiction writer named Chevalier. Chevalier, who is struggling to find his ‘next’ story is threatened with unemployment and ends up stealing Benjamin’s idea. Benjamin finds out and is crushed. He must find away to expose Chevalier and get his story back.
Again, Benjamin is self-aware of his situation and actually sits on the same side as the audience for some time. When things are going wrong for him he just gives up and happens to stumble upon a solution instead of creating one. He’s a hopeless character that is written completely wrong for this type of story. What makes this even worse is that the story has its moments of humor, but as a whole it’s constructed in such a way that it awkwardly places solutions/devices just to keep the movie going. It tries to use strange wit and empty charm to replace cohesive story arcs and completed plot lines. For example (turn away if you don’t want to get spoiled on this), when everything reaches a low point in Benjamin’s life and he ends up in jail after attacking Chevalier, his mom comes to visit him in prison. She brings all the stories he wrote that she registered with the Writer’s Guild of America and wraps up all the tragedy that happens in his life. It’s a very poor way of tying all the plot points back together and it shoes great disjunction in the overall writing. It would be like me going on for a paragraph about nothing in particular and then suddenly ending the review without building up to the end (spoiler ends).
For fans of Hess’s previous work, even Nacho Libre, you’re probably going to be very disappointed with this effort. I know I was. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the effort was in vain, as there are moments that make this likable. Jermaine Clement is just as funny as ever. He plays the perfect pompous ass writer. Also, Jennifer Coolidge, who plays Benjamin’s mother Judith, does a fantastic job as the struggling single mom trying to make Benjamin’s life as good as she can. Finally, Sam Rockwell as Bronco is severely under appreciated. He makes the most of the straight and gay Bronco and pulls out some fantastic comedy. If they had made a movie completely dedicated to Bronco I think it would have worked much better.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the film, the visuals and audio were fantastic. I especially loved the audio as it has one of the better soundtracks featured on a film since 500 Days of Summer (gnarly tunes, dude). The visuals were really good for a film that seemed a bit drab. The country backdrop for the film actually looks pretty darn gorgeous on a 1080p set.
Finally, as for features here’s what you’re looking at:
● 16 mini-documentaries featuring the cast of Gentlemen Broncos
● Outtakes Reel: A Buttload of Keepsakes
● Five deleted scenes
● Feature commentary with Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess
● One Nutty Movie: Behind the Scenes of Gentlemen Broncos