I don’t get Jared Hess. His movies are not funny. They are as dull and lifeless as his characters, and seem to have only one joke spread throughout all three of them. After Napoleon Dynamite, Hess has been struggling to match its unwarranted success. Nacho Libre was horribly unfunny and his new film, Gentlemen Broncos, is no better. Benjamin (Michael Angarano, Snow Angels) is an aspiring sci-fi novella writer until his hero Chevalier (Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords) steals his story and passes it off as his own. The opening is promising when Hess displays his way with music, but as soon as his bizarre yet boring characters open their mouths the whole thing starts its steep decline to rubbish. A reliance on gross-out humour and a complete lack of any redeeming characters defines a Hess movie. I could do without them.
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2010.
haha, cranky!! i havn’t even seen the movie yet (or any hess for that matter). but i will definitely be watching it because of jemaine clement. he is entertaining just sitting in a chair looking off in space.