If Woody Allen were a young filmmaker working with digital video fresh off of an editing gig at Fox, Four Dead Batteries would probably be something he'd have made. The humor, the dialogue, and the situations have Allen's influence painted all over them, but with little dashes of Seinfeld and other TV sitcoms thrown in for good measure.

Directed by Hiram Martinez, the film follows the story of four young men who all work together in an improv comedy troupe called The Four Dead Batteries. They have day jobs outside of their stage work together, and they also have women problems, just like a lot of other guys in their age range.

Nick (Rob Webber) spends his days slugging away as a teacher. On the outside he appears to be a happily married man but that's not really the case, as he just so happens to be having an affair with one of his co-workers at the school. Harold (Dave Zubradt) is also married, and although he's faithful to his wife, she's stressing him out as she realizes her maternal clock is ticking faster than they'd like and as such, she wants nothing more than to get pregnant and start a family with him. Hennessy (Benjamin Travers) was recently engaged to a woman until she broke it off, breaking his heart and sending him into a bit of a pit of emotional despair. The last of the group, Patrick (Patrick Dall'Occhio), just wants to get laid and has no intentions of settling down anytime soon – he's also very single, but his ways are soon to change when he meets the right girl.

The movie follows each of the four subplots along until the inevitable changes occur to bring closure, and for the most part it works. The biggest problem with the film is that the four leads are pretty much interchangeable. Each one is in the same age group, each one has a problem relating to the opposite sex, and each one is a smart ass. This makes some of the meanderings of the movie a little redundant at times, and it borders on overkill in a couple of spots, but thankfully, the whole of the film isn't like that.

Four Dead Batteries is, at its core, a very simple movie that is pretty much primarily all dialogue and character development. It isn't plot heavy, it doesn't rely on set pieces, and it is very basic in structure. Martinez makes sure that the style doesn't take over the substance, using simple camerawork to compliment what's happening in the film rather than trying to dazzle us with flashy editing tricks and slick movements. That aspect of the film is a definite plus and it proves that sometimes less is more.

The humor in the film ranges from profane and, quite frankly dirty, to a little more on the tender side at times it is very clever. The dirty jokes work really well, as let's face it, when the guys get together sometimes conversations get this way, and there are some truly hilarious moments in these scenes. The female characters don't fare as well in the film, there aren't really any strong women in here to identify with and that kind of results in a 'chick flick for guys.' It's a funny look at relationships from the male point of view that doesn't play down to the audience and as such, is worth a look despite some obvious flaws.

Video:

The 1.85.1 widescreen transfer isn't bad but there is some mpeg compression scattered throughout the movie that is a little distracting. For a low budget shot on digital video production, however, the movie looks alright for the most part. There aren't any issues with print damage or anything like that, the image is quite clean, and color reproduction is good. Look out for some mild shimmering in some scenes but at least there's some depth and detail to the picture. Not a perfect transfer, but not a bad one, all things considered.