directed by:
Bob Freville written by: Bob Freville genre: Comedy |
Alright, the force seems strong with this one at first. I think it’s fair to say that within about a minute or less, “Thirst Trap” got its initial legit laughs outta me – like, out loud, by myself – and then it probably secured a couple more easily within the next two minutes. Writer/Director Bob Freville clearly has a good grip on Comedy and how to use it effectively. As you rip through the varied scenes to follow, you’ll see him use it in a wild variety of ways, from excessive language, relevant slang, and a wonderfully immature sense of humour that feels fresh & proves you gotta be really smart to create some dumb jokes. There’s lots here to appreciate in “Thirst Trap.” You might have to accept a few realities as you watch along the way, from its visually low-budget look, scenes that can overstay their welcome, acting that’s arguably pretty borderline stuff at times, and a plotline that’s gonna be more than tough to follow for many people watching out there… but if you keep your expectations reasonable, and lighten up a little bit, there are some good things along the way.
Like Robby Atkins (Ron Yoo), he’s a great character for sure. At first, he’s responsible for the laughs I was having toward the beginning - when he’s describing what went wrong the last time his brother used the slide at a playground. Later down the road, when he’s introducing himself to a casting…um…agency’s secretary, I guess (?) – Receptionist (Katelynn Kennedy) – it becomes clear that Robby will be one of the main characters in this movie, and he continues to make an impact. Frank McGovern, who plays Roger Rock, a character that seems a bit more than washed up in his own career, has the occasional really damn good scene but was a lot more mixed performance-wise overall. Some of it’s on him, some of it’s on the material & lengthy dialogue that contains more misses than hits and/or gets bogged down with the task of advancing the storyline & demanding more seriousness outta him. Comedies are really complex beasts, and it’s hard to find the right balance between making us laugh & supplying us with enough details to cobble out a plot. Tyler Johnson comes in - to somewhat rescue “Thirst Trap” when it’s starting to feel like it’s needed most, getting some quality laughs in his role as the janitor when we’re introduced to his character, and Ravi Tawney does a good job in setting him up to deliver as the Male Nurse in the scene. Frank Badolato was a little more problematic in the sense that he’s somewhat boxed into playing a more straightforward character in Mickey - and seems to have less wiggle room to make jokes, and usually, when he does get a funny line or two, he’s got that dry delivery that’ll fly over half the heads watching. Jacqueline Sophia London, playing Bailee, takes a bit of getting used to. At first…I wasn’t completely sure what I thought of her - but she grew on me. Nic Andrews is absolutely fabulous as Mason Burns, “influencer extraordinaire” – he was a continual bright spot in this movie every time he ended up onscreen, possessing the look of someone like Tony Cavalero in “The Righteous Gemstones,” with similarly quirky character attributes as well. Mason is explicit, to say the very least, and very comfortable with who he is – so buckle up when you see him onscreen - chances are he’ll say something lewd as direct as possible…he’ll keep you entertained for sure. I don’t know about a few of the choices that Freville made in scenes, such as when we see Mason with Mickey – I love the Penis/Dragon statue thing, that was a huge homerun from the prop department – but I was much less sure of spots like seeing into Mason’s thoughts, the constant ambience of the water interfering with the audio, or the use of a screen-wipe of emojis at one point. There were definitely some positives & negatives in terms of what was included in the audio/visual effects added, what function these things could serve or hinder, and finding the right pace to move within when it came to the script or which kind of shot to use to shoot different scenarios. Sometimes, it felt like he got things dialled in the right way, and at other times, like when he’d zoom in way too close to the point of distorting the footage, things could feel a little bit forced. Overall, I’d say that Freville has the luxury of a pretty competent cast to work with and that his instincts on how to film “Thirst Trap” proved to lead him in the right direction most of the time as well, enough to somewhat compensate for the oddly uneven pace that this movie moves. Think of it this way…it’s kinda like “Thirst Trap” moves on square wheels – you get a bit of distance and travel with the material, but a lot of awkwardness is experienced in trying to get things moving towards where they’re going. Whereas this movie felt like it was really going to pull something special off as it began, “Thirst Trap” ends up getting heavily mired in its own strange neurosis and intentionally peculiar idiosyncrasies. Take, for example, the cat purring completely taking over the audio at one point…it kinda just feels like being weird, for weird’s sake, but misses that feeling of serving a purpose from the outside looking in.
Audio fluctuations seem to become the norm, becoming a bit distractive. “Thirst Trap” ends up shifting gears as this film progresses, from something that had more widespread accessibility to the more niche style of cult movie – and to be truthful with ya, it seems a lot like Freville jumped the shark & missed a bit of an opportunity with where this all ends up compared to the focus it had when it began. Roger Rock ends up having some of his best scenes later on as you tick by this film’s first hour, seeming like he’s become even more belligerent, confused, and rude…which…seemed to suit him well. Mickey ends up in a very…um…sticky situation with Mason, which kinda goes on to ruin his life – but with his natural vibe being so relentlessly dialled back, you get the sense that he handles this situation of extreme betrayal in the same way he’d celebrate his own birthday or a night out on the town – he’s practically a walking flat-line. Sometimes that seems like a good fit for “Thirst Trap,” don’t get me wrong…but by the same token, I could see a lot of folks watching this movie wanting a bit more energy or variation from Badolato scene-to-scene. So…look…the unevenness shared between the pace, the meandering of the dialogue, the continuous deviation from the main plot or inability to focus more intently on it as a priority…all these things begin to really hamper & hinder “Thirst Trap” from reaching the potential it flashes at the start. While Freville shows a fairly steady hand with his direction for the most part, there are odd & questionable choices as to how things are shot at times, or what he chooses to include in the scenes in the surrounding details like the audio/visual effects scattered in here so freakin’ randomly. The Comedy we once experienced gets replaced by a way more serious thread, and the jokes become tremendously sparse as “Thirst Trap” continues on, making that part of this movie its rarer attribute by the end. It still has the occasional laugh here & there, but yeah…I couldn’t help but feel this whole idea got away from Freville the longer that I watched it. Like, the whole scene with the bizarre effects in an acid-trip music-video style moment between Robby & Mason towards the end, for example – for real…WTF was that & what did I just watch? “Thirst Trap” doesn’t reign itself in enough after veering off course, and you really start to feel the weight of its length wearing on you as it moves even slower through its dialogue-laden finale. As I always say, I gotta call things like I see’em…so I’m gonna meet “Thirst Trap” right down the middle with two & a half stars out of five. The bright spots become few and far between, the pace never really finds its rhythm, the acting is a bit of a hit & miss, the script needs a sharper pencil, the effects are used in the strangest of ways. By the end, though, I was certainly entertained at times, but I often felt like I missed the point. |
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