Bindlestiffs (**½)

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When Kevin Smith announced 2 years ago at the Sundance Film Festival, after the initial screening of ‘Red State’, that he was going to retire from directing after his next flick ‘Hit Somebody’ in order to focus on podcasting and other ventures, it was met with a lot of derision and confusion from the media. Furthermore, there was skepticism when it was announced that he’d also now be focusing on distributing the movies of up and coming artists as one of his new ventures, since after all, he was a filmmaker, not a distributor. Well, now we have the first non Smith directed SModcast Pictures release, and it’s the uneven but funny indie comedy ‘Bindlestiffs’, so at the very least you know Smith wasn’t lying. The film looks like a home movie or a student film (and in some ways, it is…but more on that in a bit), but the voice of filmmaker Andrew Edison is far better than that. Edison directed and co-wrote the film with Luke Loftin (both also co-star in the flick as well), and he’s someone with a strong future ahead of him. This is a great calling card for him and one day will be looked back on with pride. At the moment, it’s a little too amateurish to justify going out of your way to see, but it certainly is when you factor in that it’s going to be released roadshow style this year, with an intro and Q and A with Smith as (much like he did last year with ‘Red State’). In that form, it’s easy to recommend. On its own however, it’s not quite there yet. I’ll leave it up to you (along with this review) to decide if it’s worthwhile or not…

The plot concerns the adventures of Andrew Edwards (Edison), Luke Locktin (Loftin), and John Woo (John Karna), a trio of virginal friends who decide to experience the world (and sex, they hope), Holden Caufield style. They do this without ever having actually read the seminal novel by J.D. Salinger though, so it leads to a few rather, let’s say…unusual situations. The reason for this begins with their small town suburban high school banning ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. Andrew rebels against this, ringing in his friends, the troublemaking Like and super innocent John, to come do some protest graffiti in the school bathroom. They’re caught and suspended, so they decide to head to the city for some life experiences. Obviously, things don’t exactly go the way any of them planned. The presence of prostitutes, drug dealers, a homeless woman, and more serve to make it a few days that none of the boys will ever expect. There’s some shock value on display here, but more of the jokes land than you’d think.

I won’t lie…the acting here is not good. That being said, the main trio at least know the types of personalities that their characters have. It’s only a matter of their limitations keeping things from moving too far forward. Each of them has a few solid moments, but obviously this would have been more effective with professional actors. Andrew Edison gives himself the most reactive role, and that of the ring leader of the group in a way, and it’s a smart decision. His deadpan remarks and subtle humor work here. Of the three, he’s the best. Luke Loftin is the most blustery of the bunch, and it helps to hide some of his shortcomings, but he’s clearly not much of an actor. As for John Karna, he’s the most broadly drawn character of the group, and he goes way out there to portray it. I don’t see an acting future for any of these boys, but they don’t ruin the movie, so there’s that.  The cast also includes Will Fordyce as the school safety agent who thinks they’re potentially violent criminals, but he’s no better.  It’s just not an actor’s picture, for obvious reasons.

Considering his young age (and the fact that this was supposedly started while the cast/crew were still in high school themselves), Andrew Edison does a very acceptable job as the director, though his limitations are clear. Microphones are visible on the actors and it often looks like a home movie or student film. This doesn’t appear to be laziness, just the reality of their situation, so it’s hard to hold it against him. He’s not a full-fledged director yet, but the potential is there. The script that Edison wrote with Luke Loftin is funny and original, but at times it goes too far over the top and forgets the point of it all. That’s why I find the film to be uneven. At times it’s very amusing, but at times it just becomes too much and you almost tune out.

All in all, ‘Bindlestiffs’ is horse of a different color and that’s something you don’t see everyday, even in the world of indie comedies. You can’t expect too much polish with this sort of thing, and you don’t get it. How you feel about that will likely determine if you’re interested in seeing this flick during the rest of the year when it makes its way out. The presence of Kevin Smith helping to shepherd it into the light certainly doesn’t hurt its profile any, but the movie will live and die based on its own quality. I’m not quite ready to give it an unqualified recommendation, but adventurous fans of indie cinema can do a lot worse than this little flick…

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