Wednesday, August 1, 2012

MON AMI (2012) movie review


Mon Ami (2012) d. Grant, Rob (Canada)

From our neighbors to the north comes this screamingly funny, gleefully depraved high energy romp that envisions the Coen Brothers’ Fargo through a buddy-comedy prism…then flings it into a kiddie pool of blood. A pair of frustrated home-improvement chain store employees (Mike Kovac, Scott Wallis) concoct a “harmless” kidnapping scheme that spins out of control, setting into motion a chain of increasingly audacious events, each more outrageously irrevocable than the last.

The hapless pair’s squabbling, lived-in bromance spawns enough belly laughs on its own zinger-laced merits to fill a standard 90-minute time block. But once the ropes and luchador masks come out and comely victim Chelsey Reist finds herself strapped to a chair in Wallis’ parents’ apartment, the frantic plot twists and wacky mishaps fly with buzzsaw ferocity, seasoned with writer/director Grant’s penchant for heightening each scenario with false starts and narrative curve balls.

Sure, events occasionally broach implausibility and its female characters are treated a bit more shabbily than they perhaps deserve, but the midnight-hue farce elements are carried off with such verve and spirit that, like Very Bad Things before it, you’ll likely be giggling (and cringing in sympathetic pain) too much to care. An absolute winner.

No comments:

Post a Comment