by Thomas M. Pender
I get it now. I finally get it. Back in 2004, I was completely stumped by America when Napoleon Dynamite became nouveau-cool. Here was the tale of a high school nerd-geek-dweeb who loved griffins and tater tots – and who looked far too much like my nerdy teen self for my comfort level! – and for some reason which completely escaped me, the public went wild for him. The characters were awkward, the dialogue seemed amateurishly written and delivered, and yet it was a hit. I didn’t think I would ever understand people’s love for this film.
Five years later, Jared Hess, the writer/director of Napoleon and also another twit-fest, Nacho Libre (which, honestly, looked so stupid, I’ve never gone near it), released a third film: Gentlemen Broncos. Being relatively outside the sphere of media influence, as I have no cable, newspaper subscription, or need to farm Yahoo! for celebrity gossip, I missed the advertising for and release of this film altogether. I only heard of it via a trailer on another DVD a few months ago. The trailer boldly brags “from the director of Nacho Libre and Napoleon Dynamite,” so right away I had no interest in it. Still, the clips made me chuckle.
One big reason for even my marginal interest is character actor Sam Rockwell. I first noticed him in the small film Box of Moonlight, and was impressed enough to keep an eye out for him in other films. His part in Broncos is pretty small, but he is featured in the trailer, so I was interested. If you don’t recognize his name, you’d know his face. He portrayed “Wild Bill” Wharton in The Green Mile, Guy Fleegman in GalaxyQuest, Chuck Barris in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and most recently, “Doc” in Cowboys & Aliens, among many other low-profile roles. He’s a rare commodity in Hollywood, as he displays actual personality, and he can do drama with as much flair as he does comedy. Again, his part in Broncos is small, but very prominent.
Rockwell got me to see the film, but the story and awkward humor won me over. Benjamin (Michael Angarano) writes a science fiction adventure which, after a sci fi writing conference, gets into the hands of his idol, Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement of Dinner For Schmucks). Struggling to find his next big story, Chevalier changes the character names in the boy’s tale, and publishes it as his own. It becomes a best-selling novel, a movie, and even a book-on-tape, all of which gets the attention of the actual author. Also featured in the movie is Jennifer Coolidge (“Stifler’s Mom” in the American Pie trilogy), who I find to be a quirky hoot.
Maybe I was more interested in the film than I’d normally be because I’ve been writing since I was a kid, and I identified with the main character. For whatever reason, I took an interest. After seeing the trailer twice, I stuck it on the top of my Netflix queue, and was instantly charmed by it. However, knowing it’s such a weird piece, I guess I should “marginally recommend” it to the general public. If you loved Napoleon Dynamite (and I’m guessing Nacho Libre), you’ll probably dig this one, too. If you’re a fan of science fiction writing and/or Comic Cons, I think this will be a good one for you, too.
However, if you’re one of those freaks who require meaning, depth, good acting, great writing and fabulously engineered special effects in films to be interested in them, don’t even think about watching this one. Your loss.
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