The Plot:
Tara hates everything about her life. Her parents want her to go to college. Her brother is a pompous dork who fronts a local band that does nothing but late 80s covers. She works in a movie theater selling tickets, a job that makes her feel like a gerbil, and lives in a house where dozens of local slackers shack up, each one loaded with equally empty, dreamless lives. One night, after an impromptu jam session on her brother's equipment, Tara and four of her friends decide to steal his van and head out on the road. Loaded with musical instruments, the gang tries their hand at gigging. Sure enough, local artists around the Tennessee/Kentucky area think Tara's band is awesome. It's not long, however, before inner tensions and money trouble start to tear the "group" apart. And then there's the little issue of the stolen vehicle loaded with equally hot property. Will Tara's superficial goal of rock stardom be realized, or will it end up Half-Cocked, just like most of her meaningless plans.

The DVD:
Welcome to the world of hand through hair acting. So representative of the early '90s alt-rock scene that you'll wonder when Blind Melon will show up to sing "No Rain", Half-Cocked is a movie containing as many mistakes as masterstrokes. Simultaneously arty and awkward, deep and dreary, this loving look at a local music scene circa Courtney Love is a thoroughly effective, ultimately forgettable bit of stunt cinema. According to the filmmakers – first timers Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky – this is a film made up of musicians playing actors playing musicians. Local Kentucky lo-fiers were roped in to recreate the scenes surreal Sturm und Drang, illustrating the DIY flavor of the anything goes post-grunge soundscape. There are times when the movie feels like a documentary. This is especially true when lame ass acts like The Guillotines play their horribly hackneyed cover tunes, or when our group of certified slackers go art punk on us. There are other moments which feel taken directly out of the Depressed Teens Guide to Life, with forward by Billy Corgan and Evan Dando. Throw in some incredibly amateurish acting, a storyline that feels like an afterthought, and an ending that's a pure emotional letdown, and you've got the motion picture equivalent of a house party hangover, complete with mandatory personal hygiene issues.

It's hard to fathom what Hawley and Galinsky want to say here. The message gets mangled up in long takes involving muttered dialogue and near inert performances. Then there are sequences where the details do most of the ambient selling (a person pours over a record collection that includes the Jad Fair/Daniel Johnston collaboration album). As for the characters – or what one could generously refer to as 'the characters' – Half-Cocked is more into archetypes than actual people. We get the gloomy girl, the confused chick, the slight psychotic dreamer, the demanding ass wipe and the silent but schizo dweeb. Stick them in a van, drive them around the Tennessee Valley, refuse to allow them to bathe, and ask them to stumble through conversations that have no real point. The result would be a good 60% of this movie's motivation. While it smacks of reality (those who've talked to adolescents over the last few years will certainly understand that) it also seems foreign and unfamiliar. This is a generation just getting into technology, a world where the cellphone doesn't really exist and computers are high tech – and high priced – word processors. Since they are cut off from the world, locked into their own insular existence, the lack of social skills appear authentic. But Hawley and Galinsky push this point too far, rendering our interest level in these individuals narrow and restrained.

The circumstances don't help either. In essence, Half-Cocked is a road movie where the majority of the adventure happens off the highway. There are long montage sequences where our makeshift band hangs out with hospitable record store owners, fellow musicians, and scene sidekicks, each episode giving us snippets of truth backed by another example of shoe-gazing glower power. The live performances also provide a little fire, since they propel the film forward on their own wave of sonic significance. But when the final shot finally fades away, you're left with a feeling of incompleteness and anger – like you've spent 90 minutes talking to someone who, in the end, really had very little if anything to say. The low budget black and white cinematography is first rate though, giving the film an aura of inevitability and fatalism that perfectly matches the characters' world-weary purposelessness, and Hawley and Galinsky capture the no man's land look of the region expertly. Still, good looks and noble intentions do not always lead to overall entertainment excellence. Half-Cocked is interesting, but comes off as reckless and unremarkable as the band at the center of the story. If you need to revisit a time when everything smelled like teen spirit and even flow was as much a mantra as a song, you'll dig this 1994 novelty. Others will have moved on towards the post-modern world since then.

The Video:
Presented in a 1.33:1 full screen image (which the DVD itself states may not be the final tech specs once the true product package is released) Half-Cocked definitely looks its age. Grainy, washed out and frequented by scratches, dirt and other flaws, this screener gives the movie its cash poor due, and that's about it.

The Audio:
Sonically, a similar situation exists. The aural elements here are poorly mastered, the dialogue frequently lost in the dense Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix (again, not necessarily the finished version of the auditory elements to be offered). When you have characters who whisper their dialogue while standing near streets loaded with ambient noise, your recording techniques have to be much clearer and cleaner. What we have here is passable, but hardly professional or presentable. At least the music sounds halfway decent, if a little flat and tinny.

The Extras:
Again, stated very clearly on this promotion disc is the following information:

This Disc is for promotional purposes and it does not contain all the content that will be present on the final version.

In essence, what this reviewer had to work with is a crapshoot of potential bonus features, so read on at your own risk. Definitely planned as part of the package is a short film entitled Radiation. Made while directors Haley and Galinsky were dragging Half-Cocked across Europe, this story of a despicable Spanish band promoter and the American performance artist he befriends is really tough going. There is nothing remotely redeemable about our Latino lead – he's a total jerk and a self-absorbed asshole – and the poetry reading honey he latches onto is interesting, if incomplete. Instead of being fully realized, Radiation plays like sketches in a screenwriter's notebook, possible players for a future – and more fleshed out – narrative. As a companion piece to Half-Cocked, Radiation is routine and uninvolving. In addition, there are several slideshows, mostly photo books by Michael Galinsky with some spoken word tracks and musical backing included. None are very aesthetically satisfying. Toss in a music video, a middling Making-Of and a long selection of audio outtakes from the live performances in the film and you've got a weird assortment of supplements that seem like hangers-on to the real film featured.

Final Thoughts:
Confusing, creative and just slightly clichéd (to paraphrase one Bart Simpson, telling a tale about depressed teens is like shooting fish in a barrel) Half-Cocked has some redeeming factors, and fans of the bands represented may get a kick out of seeing their favorite musicians in full on thespian mode. But it's hard to say if this story has a reach beyond its determined demographic. Certainly there are things worth noting here. In addition, there are sequences that will make you want to reach out and cut off that horrible rat's nest of a hairdo on lead actress Rhonda. Giving audiences the benefit of the doubt, a rating of Recommended will be awarded. Film buffs will probably dig the authenticity the film provides, while those in tune with their inner Mother Love Bone will go bonkers for the directionless design of the story. If you go in expecting some manner of hilarious music scene satire, you'll be greatly disappointed. But if you like the concept of lazy life lessons told over dissonant guitars and experimental polyrhythms, you'll find Half-Cocked fully formed. Others will just bide their time until the boy bands take over.

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