Review of Dead Beat

Dead Beat (1994)
Not Exactly Dante or Shakespeare But Entertaining enough...
12 June 2001
I am the Queen of Quirk so I was able to appreciate this off beat film.

I had never even heard anything about it before. I just found it for $5 in the discount Video Box. Anyway, it looked weird enough and it definitely is just that.

It's about a play boy named Kit (Bruce Ramsey) who is a total phony. He dyes his hair, applies powder foundation and wears flattened cans in his cowboy boots to make himself appear taller. Every girl is in love with him because he looks and sings like Elvis. He is seemingly serious about one girl though and that is Martha (Sarah Gilbert). Well, that is, until Kirsten comes on the scene (Natasha Gregson Wagner-the princess of offbeat films). She is a skank (just like him), she's insane and has something complex going on underneath (just like him). They are perfect for each other...for awhile.

This isn't just a love story though. Did Kit kill a girl awhile back and bury her out in the desert or is that just one of his lame, made up stories? Murders become a theme in the film towards the end and all the relationship humour is soon forgotten.

This film isn't exactly *amazing* but it's not completely awful. It's funny, it's entertaining and it has the campiness of a film from 1965 (that's when the film takes place). I give it 7/10 for quirk/weirdness.
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