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.