As seen at the 2008 Los Angeles Film
Festival:
About halfway
into Baghead, a character utters a line of dialogue that
is supposed to function as the ultimate meta-on-meta-statement
on behalf of writer/directors Mark and Jay Duplass. Said
character and her three friends—all played convincingly by Greta
Gerwig, Elise Muller, Steve Zississ, and Ross Partridge—are
angst-ridden independent filmmakers who have decided to venture
to a Big Bear cabin and crank out a quality screenplay after
watching a frustratingly tacky underground festival-entry by the
self-indulgent Jett Garner (playing himself). After much bloated
drinking and inconsequential thinking, they begin to write a
horror-comedy about a bag-headed man who terrorizes others
(which is, conveniently, the same story that they later embody
in the external-plot.) The aforementioned line comes into play
when one references the fact that the script, while chalk full
of action and narrative-building, will ultimately be boosted
solely by a subtle exploration of the characters’ emotions. The
Duplasses, in accordance with the rest of their structure, want
the line to amuse the viewer and to make them aware and thankful
of the fact that their picture is indeed exploring deeper
emotional themes than those that would typically relate to a
story prominently featuring a man with a brown paper-bag draped
over his head.
Contrary to
its intent, the line comes across as more ironically ironic than
it does ironic. In other words, as much as the Duplasses may
want to provide the emotional aspects of their story an integral
role in their picture and thereby render Baghead a more
substantive piece of filmmaking on the whole, their stabs at
substance feel exactly like what the character humorously
references: laughable, noticeably scattershot attempts to turn a
simple movie into something that it’s not. Indeed, Baghead
is amusingly structured and sometimes downright riveting in its
blend of both the horror and comedy genres, but it fails to
engage on any deeper level because of the lack of authenticity
taken on by the aforementioned character-development. All of the
“complex” conversation and contemplation that goes on throughout
the movie feels like textbook independent filmmaker patchwork.
And even if the Duplasses really did intend for it to seem that
way—a doubtful notion—such only reflects their over-devotion to
a structure that would only stretch so far in its undeniable
ingeniousness. In fact, the “profound” dimensions found within
Baghead ultimately only hinder its sense of cleverness,
distracting viewers from the writer/directors’ strong command of
situations. Even at a short eighty-four minutes, the picture
tends to feel longwinded and sprawling in its current state,
which is something of a shame given the potential presented by
the premise. Despite a hilarious setup featuring the Garner
character, solid acting throughout, and an unpredictable
end-twist, Baghead is unfortunately an imperfect
entertainment for its abundance of undercooked excess.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 7.28.2008
Screened on: 6.27.2008 at the
Landmark in West Los Angeles, CA.
