With the movies coming out of Hollywood getting more narrow in focus as time goes on, relying on remakes, sequels, and comic book adaptations, independent films are where new and different stories are told.  Of course seeing these films is often hard to do, but it is getting easier.  Film Baby is an on-line distributor who specializes in small films, selling them on DVD-Rs and giving film makers some much needed exposure.  The first Film Baby disc that has come across my desk is Obtuse Todd, a movie with a different feel about a guy whose life starts getting increasingly weird after a lonely young girl dials his number by mistake.

Todd (writer/director Matthew Farley) is a lonely guy, a musician who works at an insurance company to pay the bills.  He's fallen in love with his co-worker, Gwen and drives her to and from work each day.  Too shy to actually tell her how he feels, and too, well, obtuse to realize that she likes him, he paints a large banner that proclaims "I love you Gwen."

As he's finishing up on the banner, Todd gets a call.  It's a girl named Lena who's looking for someone named Cameron.  Though she has the wrong number, they talk for a minute and Lena becomes intrigued with Todd.  She starts calling him back all the time and becoming a bit of a pest.

While that's a bit irritating, it gets worse when Lena's irate father, Chuck, shows up at Todd's door, accusing him of corrupting the 14 year old Lena.  Though the man is ready to call the cops or open up a can of whoop-ass on Todd, the music that is playing calms him down.  It turns out that Chuck is a budding lyricist and likes Todd's music.  The two of them start writing songs together with Chuck handling the words and Todd taking care of the music.  All of the songs are about food, and are Ishtar bad, but they have a good time.

Meanwhile Todd's told Lena that he's not going to talk to her anymore, and she gets pissed.  To get back at Todd, she passes the word that he's a drug dealer with a great product and low prices.  Soon Todd's getting people at his door at all hours asking for "Stops", candy dipped in LSD.  So Todd gets the bright idea of selling unadulterated candy and starts raking in the money.

This is a micro-budget film.  Not something that was made for $10,000-$20,000, this was a getting friends together on weekends and evening production where the digital video tape was the biggest expense.  There is no way that this movie can compare to a big budget Hollywood film, or even a movie that's entered at Sundance.

For what it is, the movie is alright.  The film starts strong, hooking the viewer right off the bat, and having enough turns that you'll wonder where the movie is heading.  There were some problems with the script, and they weren't minor though.  The whole thing could have used rewrite or two, this feels a lot like a first draft.  There are several scenes that are extraneous and don't really belong in the film (like Chuck talking about how his wife left him) and none of the characters are really developed.  Their motivations remain a mystery, and some of the things they do don't really make much sense.  (Who would start selling candy as LSD to druggies?  Sounds like a great way to end up in the hospital.)

Even with these problems, the creators had me until 2/3 of the way through the film, where a major plot point occurs that changes everything.  This event had me rolling my eyes, and as soon as Todd meets "Nurse Lean" the way the movie was going to end became clear.  This last act really came across as amateur and hackneyed, and sent the film into a nose dive.  You are no longer wondering what the resolution to the situation with the druggies and Chuck situation is going to be, and it felt like a copout for the most part.

On the plus side, the songs that Todd and Chuck write, horrible tunes all about food, are pretty funny in an Ishtar way (which isn't meant as a slam.  I actually liked that film, though I'm probably the only one).  Each one is more inane than the last, and the fact that they don' t realize how bad they are makes it even more amusing.

The cast seemed to consist entirely of friends and family of the producers, and was about what you'd expect.  The whole cast gave the feeling that they were reciting lines that they'd memorized rather than actually living the events that were transpiring.

Audio:

The stereo soundtrack was adequate, but not much more than that.  The major defect was that there's a low level hum in the background.  Aside from that, the range wasn't great, and some of the dialog was a little muddled.  It wasn't horrible, just not a great sounding disc.

Video:

This low budget film has a few problems in the video department.  The widescreen (nonanamorphic) image wasn't that great.  Apparently filmed on digital tape, aliasing is a big problem.  A lot of the diagonal lines had a stair-step effect that became annoying after a while.  The video levels weren't set correctly either.  Some scenes were overly bright with the highlights washed out, and others were too dark with details obscured.  The movie was a bit soft most of the time too.  Still very watchable, this just isn't a stellar looking film.

Extras:

There is a one-minute reel of bloopers as well as a series of trailers and a photo gallery.

Final Thoughts:

I often enjoy independent films, and I like the idea that Film Baby has come up with.  I really wanted to like this film, and I thought it started well.  After about 15-20 minutes though, the plot started suffering from not enough polish and thought.  Even so, the movie had a certain amount of charm until the last act.  While in good conscience I can't recommend this film to a general audience, it would make a good purchase for someone who's interest in seeing what type of film can be made with a group of volunteers and some a lot of ambition.  For those people this is Recommended.