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The opening credits for "Gentleman Broncos" are wonderful. The cast and crew's names appear on the covers of worn sci-fi paperbacks, their titles blending perfectly with faded aliens and wizards. Beyond that sequence, the best thing about "Gentleman Broncos" is that it's short.
Director Jared Hess wants you to remember where he came from. He leapfrogs over the more commercial "Nacho Libre" and takes audiences back to the bizarre small-town antics of "Napoleon Dynamite." Just substitute Utah for Idaho and science fiction for a class president election. But "Gentleman Broncos" lacks the sweetness of Hess' debut. It also lacks wit and sharply drawn characters, two ingredients necessary to turn the absurd into something sublime.
The basic story is a clever spin on the "stolen idea" plot, even if the execution is way off the mark. Benjamin (Michael Angarano, "The Forbidden Kingdom"), a quiet home-schooled boy, spends his time writing science fiction novels in his room. His mother Judith (Jennifer Coolidge, "Best in Show") dedicates her life to creating awful dresses and nightgowns. To occupy her son, she enlists Dusty (Mike White, "The School of Rock") to become his mentor.
A few minutes into the film, Benjamin gets relief from the endless ribbons of fabric. All the local home-schooled kids pile into a bus for a festival that gives them access to sci-fi master Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement), who is accepting entries for a student writing contest. He likes Benjamin's submission, "Yeast Lords," so much that he steals the story. The book becomes a bestseller, and Benjamin goes out for justice. The movie alternates the real action with the plight of the "Yeast Lords" hero Bronco (Sam Rockwell, "Frost/Nixon").
Before they know of the theft, two of Benjamin's friends (Halley Feiffer, "The Squid and the Whale," and Hector Jimenez, "Sin Nombre") shoot a low-budget film on videotape based on the book. The subplot is just an excuse to showcase Jimenez's misaligned teeth, which he exposes generously.
While the quirkiness of "Napoleon Dynamite" was responsible for its appeal, similar elements in "Gentleman Broncos" feel forced. The late 1980s-early 1990s costumes, the cheesy VHS movies, Dusty's awful mustache and long red wig — all are ridiculous for the sake of being ridiculous. The movie centers around sci-fi culture, but never digs in for fanboy humor. Maybe Hess thought poking fun at fantasy geeks was too easy. However, he's clearly not above any cheap joke.
Clement's performance makes the movie watchable, at least in spots. A master of timing, the "Flight of the Conchords" star scoops down into a rich English baritone that clicks with Chevalier's arrogance. He believes every word that comes out of his mouth is golden. One scene that involves Chevalier teaching students the value of suffixes while naming characters is hilarious. But it's only one scene. Chevalier spends the rest of his screen time reveling in his magnificence and ignoring an ever-present Bluetooth headset.
"Broncos" may be a worthwhile vehicle to propel Clement to big screen status, but Coolidge and Rockwell should know better. To their credit, the actors throw themselves into the film, but both are far above what amounts to a colossal waste of time. Rockwell especially, who gave an Oscar-worthy performance earlier this year in "Moon," might want to choose his projects more carefully.
If the scenes without Clement weren't bad enough, Hess unleashes a plague of gross-out sight gags. There's a snake with diarrhea, testicles in jars and enough projectile vomiting to rival Monty Python's "Meaning of Life." There is no good reason why these awful things show up; they just do. The concept of motivation appears to be beyond Hess' grasp. Maybe that's why Fox Searchlight has pulled the plug on a nationwide release.
The only thing Hess can take away from this disaster is the ancient comedic rule of the straight man. One weakness of "Napoleon Dynamite" is that every character is wacky. In "Broncos," Angarano gladly remains idle while the madness swirls around him. But Angarano takes it too far. He doesn't so much act as exist, which is a shame. Benjamin is too lifeless to care about.
Maybe the "Napoleon Dynamite" comparisons are heavy-handed, but until Hess makes a film that approaches his cult classic, the references are more than fair. Just because an idea is funny inside your head, it doesn't mean that it would make a good movie.
Gentleman Broncos
Rated PG-13. 90 minutes.
Comedy.
Cast: Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Jennifer Coolidge, Sam Rockwell, Halley Feiffer, Mike White, Hector Jimenez, Johnny Hoops.
Director: Jared Hess.
