VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Sexy Evil Genius (2013)
Clint: 3/5 stars, 7.4/10.
Carolyn: 4/5 stars, 7.6/10.
Native ratings: 3.4/5 stars Netflix, 5.7/10 IMDB.
So, Jsun mentioned there was a new My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, which led me to the wikipedia page in order to find the title, which led me to read said page, which lead me to notice an “In Popular Culture” section that was surprisingly blank, but said one thing: “Their songs are a major plot device in the dark comedy film Sexy Evil Genius.”
Now, I think people related to the movie put this in there, because it’s NOT a major plot device. It’s not even a plot device. But the band IS mentioned and talked about more than in any other movie I’ve ever seen, and one of the few songs that I ever temporarily considered “my favorite song of all time” is indeed in the soundtrack – A Daisy Chain 4 Satan (Acid & Flowers Mix). So I don’t feel ripped off about that.
The genre made me feel a bit more ripped off. Netflix more accurately categorizes it as Crime-Thriller, while IMDB says Comedy-Drama-Mystery-Thriller which is just wrong. So we had unrealized comedic expectations hurting us.
But, y’know, it was still pretty interesting. Not as much of an overt comedy, but it still had comedic elements. It was more of an intriguing movie of dialog slowly revealing ulterior motives and mysteries, all while sitting at a bar table. Everyone sat at a table and talked — through the entire movie. One of those. If you took out the various flashback scenes, this could easily be a low-budget play with 4 people.
Yet it still worked, and was still entertaining. Seth Green! Michelle Trachtenberg! Katee Sackoff, from 24! The narrator-in-a-wheelchair from Oz … We finally saw him take a few steps! Good cast to do something like this. Worth it for the Thrill Kill Kult and Trachtenberg-eyes alone.
Carolyn’s thoughts: It was very low-key because it was more about dialogue and flashbacks, but it worked pretty well. There was a very interesting style to it.
Directed by Shawn Piller.
Written by Scott Lew.
Starring Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Family Guy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Can’t Hardly Wait, Hulk And The Agents Of S.M.A.S.H., Greg The Bunny, Titan Maximum, Without A Paddle, Idle Hands, 8 eps of Batman Beyond, 4 eps of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 4 eps of MADtv, 3 eps of Mad, 2 eps of Heroes, 2 eps of Holliston) as Zachary Newman.
Anthony Michael Hall (The Dark Knight, Trojan War, Edward Scissorhands, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1 ep of American Dad) as Mark Von Dutch. Nice to see our Oz narrator doing something again. He looks slightly different, 10+ years later, but still totally recognizable. Kinda funny that he still doesn’t walk during the entire movie — except when he walks in and sits down. So in two features we’ve seen of him, he’s walked for all of 10 seconds.
Michelle Trachtenberg (Take Me Home Tonight, Weeds, Eurotrip, 17 Again, Mysterious Skin, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, 5 eps of Robot Chicken, 4 eps of Six Feet Under) as Miranda Prague.
Katee Sackhoff (Dana Walsh from 24, Riddick, 7 eps of Robot Chicken, 4 eps of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Battlestar Galactica, 4 eps of Nip/Tuck, 4 eps of Undressed) as Nikki Franklyn.
Harold Perrineau (the narrator from Oz, 28 Weeks Later, The Matrix 2-3, Snitch, Lost) as Marvin Coolidge.
William Baldwin (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Sliver) as Bert Mayfaire.
Nora Kirkpatrick (5 eps of The Office) as Abby.
Derek Mio (G.B.F. aka Gay Best Friend) as Lead Singer.
LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1801096/combined