"Home Fries" has an intriguing cast, with such talents as the always charming Drew Barrymore and her real-life love interest Luke Wilson, Catherine O'Hara from "Home Alone," Jake Busey and Shelley Duvall. However, the positive things going for the movie end there, for there isn't an adequate script to pull the characters though: it is almost if this movie is nothing more than a smart character study.
The plot is very complicated. And to top things off and make it harder for the filmmakers to succeed in the movie, it is all done as a comedy. The trick is to movies like this is to go way over the top in the black humor, like "Clay Pigeons" and "Fargo" did. But the filmmakers just don't do that here, and I felt like they were virtually holding something back from us, resulting in a starkly, unfunny film.
For example, in a particular sequence when the drunken father of Sally takes the Burger joint hostage, there isn't enough comic material to make that relevant to the rest of the movie. You see, the whole concept of the ex-husband coming back for revenge isn't really funny, and doesn't have much propose to the rest of the film. The filmmakers think it is funny enough that the man is very drunk, and that he has at gunpoint Dorian dressed in a robot suite as the mascot for Burger Matic for a children's birthday party. Believe it or not, it isn't funny.
There is some humor that does work well. For instance, there are scenes where Mrs. Lever fakes tears when talking about her dead husband, whom she ordered to be done with. She screams loudly and annoyingly, all in a very black manner. Now, that is kind of funny. But most of the movies comic elements are original, but too dark to laugh at.
I really liked the characters in "Home Fries," that were colorful and entertaining. If only the story had enough potential in it to support them. I also like the energetic and fast paced ending, but lets face it, we've traveled down this road before, with much more success.
The plot is very complicated. And to top things off and make it harder for the filmmakers to succeed in the movie, it is all done as a comedy. The trick is to movies like this is to go way over the top in the black humor, like "Clay Pigeons" and "Fargo" did. But the filmmakers just don't do that here, and I felt like they were virtually holding something back from us, resulting in a starkly, unfunny film.
For example, in a particular sequence when the drunken father of Sally takes the Burger joint hostage, there isn't enough comic material to make that relevant to the rest of the movie. You see, the whole concept of the ex-husband coming back for revenge isn't really funny, and doesn't have much propose to the rest of the film. The filmmakers think it is funny enough that the man is very drunk, and that he has at gunpoint Dorian dressed in a robot suite as the mascot for Burger Matic for a children's birthday party. Believe it or not, it isn't funny.
There is some humor that does work well. For instance, there are scenes where Mrs. Lever fakes tears when talking about her dead husband, whom she ordered to be done with. She screams loudly and annoyingly, all in a very black manner. Now, that is kind of funny. But most of the movies comic elements are original, but too dark to laugh at.
I really liked the characters in "Home Fries," that were colorful and entertaining. If only the story had enough potential in it to support them. I also like the energetic and fast paced ending, but lets face it, we've traveled down this road before, with much more success.