The tagline on the back of the DVD is from Jeff Bridges himself. Not a good sign when you have your lead actor plugging your movie on its cover instead of a critic. His quote is, "It's like if Frank Capra had made a porno."
Well, you can see how he might say that since this takes place in a small town and is filled with working class characters. But Frank Capra had respect for working class people, where everyone in The Amateurs seems to have only condescension for them.
Within two minutes of the film's beginning we see Jeff Bridges peeing on his boss, without being given a reason. Seconds later we see his friends Mo and Ron (collectively known as MoRon...isn't that funny!) approach him in a bar with very exaggerated gestures because he is, (gasp!), THINKING!
Not a single character rises to an adequate level of believability to sympathize with them, and to those who say this is "just a comedy" and "you shouldn't expect it to be believable" I would point out Christopher Guest films like "Waiting For Guffman," which has a similar small- town-production plot but has very realistic characters and as a result is a thousand times funnier.
Instead we get scenes like the one in the dugout where all the guys are literally grunting Tim Taylor style and toasting their beers "To porn!" It's not that guys don't do this, but they do it with a little self-awareness. These characters are 100% earnest, 100% dumb. And not the fun-to-watch kind. The poorly-written kind.
If you think small town folks are idiots or enjoy pretending they are, you may enjoy The Amateurs, but you would do far better watching "The Full Monty."
Well, you can see how he might say that since this takes place in a small town and is filled with working class characters. But Frank Capra had respect for working class people, where everyone in The Amateurs seems to have only condescension for them.
Within two minutes of the film's beginning we see Jeff Bridges peeing on his boss, without being given a reason. Seconds later we see his friends Mo and Ron (collectively known as MoRon...isn't that funny!) approach him in a bar with very exaggerated gestures because he is, (gasp!), THINKING!
Not a single character rises to an adequate level of believability to sympathize with them, and to those who say this is "just a comedy" and "you shouldn't expect it to be believable" I would point out Christopher Guest films like "Waiting For Guffman," which has a similar small- town-production plot but has very realistic characters and as a result is a thousand times funnier.
Instead we get scenes like the one in the dugout where all the guys are literally grunting Tim Taylor style and toasting their beers "To porn!" It's not that guys don't do this, but they do it with a little self-awareness. These characters are 100% earnest, 100% dumb. And not the fun-to-watch kind. The poorly-written kind.
If you think small town folks are idiots or enjoy pretending they are, you may enjoy The Amateurs, but you would do far better watching "The Full Monty."