Thursday, March 1, 2012

Movie Review: Humble Pie (American Fork)

(Source)
Humble Pie (American Fork)

"A gentle giant in an ungentle world.

At nearly 400 pounds, Tracy Orbison (Hubbel Palmer) is a wide target.  When he sets out to pursue his dream of acting, the grocery clerk finds an assortment of people waiting to dash his hopes: a drama coach (William Baldwin) with designs on Tracy's sister, Peggy (Mary Lynn Rajskub); a pack of juvenile delinquents; and his God-fearing, self-loathing mother (Kathleen Quinlan).  Through it all, Tracy remains irrepressibly upbeat, convinced he's destined for something big."


Movie Tags: Comedy, Independent Movies, Independent Comedy, Heartfelt, Quirky


This movie has it's share of ups and downs.

From the moment we enter Tracy's life we see how empty and lonely his world is. From having no friends and nothing more than his job to keep him going, he's just floating along in the world. Everything we see just builds the image of a very unsatisfying his life is, how little drive, ambition, and direction he has..
Between having this crap grocery store job (been there) for 11 years, his only friend is his sister who doesn't get him, to an emotionally detached (borderline emotionally abusive) mother that just wants to see her kids with someone; Tracy doesn't have a lot to look forward too.
Then one day his manager calls him into the office, to talk about his work ethic and future. Things more or less go decently, and giving him tickets for a local play, that him and his wife planned to see what now have other arrangements. Tracy goes with a fellow co-worker and falls in love with the stage. He enrolls in acting classes, only to find that his acting coach was the star of the play he saw, and he begins to idolize him. From that moment his life starts to look a littler brighter.  Tracy starts to put all of his love of life and effort into his acting and begins to see the world in a new light.

After that, the movie fell apart. It literally became difficult for me to watch.

Tracy is a nice guy, who expects more from people as he gives more than most do; he doesn't see bad in people and believes that they can change if you show an interest in their life. Sadly, not everyone in the world is like that.
Throughout the movie he is taken advantage of over and over. Towards the end, the movie tries to level it's self out having some characters turn around and change their ways, but I wasn't feeling it. Too many characters did a 180 with very little drive or explanation behind it. Along with that mentality that "Since I'm sorry it makes everything better" instead of trying to actually make atonement for what you've done.
That is a big no-no in my book.

I have to say, I felt pretty bad for Tracy through everything. Another story about a nice decent guy that gets dumped on in the world. In the end, he did learn more than a few things about himself. Which I suppose is always part of the human journey. To find out who you really are and who is really there for you.

Two things I have to bring up.This movie is NOT a comedy. Seriously, it's not. Also it was great to see Vincent Caso (Bladezz) from The Guild!

I do believe that it's one of those stories "Good idea, poorly executed".
All in all it was simply an okay movie. Not great, not horrible. Trust me I've seen a lot of horrible [indie] movies. Worth watching if only for the actors, lots of actors with great potential.

Recommend: If you want something a little different and enjoy watching personal growth.


No comments:

Post a Comment