Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Silly comedies
Likes: Gratuitous T&A
Dislikes: Bathroom humor
Hates: Gross-out comedy

The Movie
As a reviewer, I try to approach each movie or TV show I check out with an open mind. But of course we'll have some preconceptions that affect how we see the movie, and I attempt to mitigate these influences by listing out some of my biases. Well, with a movie like Nacho Mountain, a micro-budget indie made without any stars of any kind, released by a little-known organization, you can't help but think it's unlikely to be very good. Sometimes, preconceptions are right though. Nacho Mountain isn't very good. But it had a chance.

Comedian Jay Larson plays Keefer, a loser who's lost his job and his lady. Now all he wants to do is smoke pot with his pal Meegosh (Kevin Interdonato), but he still has bills to pay, so they work out a plan to make money off Keefer's sole skill: eating. Together, they create a competitive eating competition that Keefer dominates. Unfortunately, the town's mayor (who, despite being an immoral tub of crap, owns gyms and health food stores) wants to ban unhealthy food, and decides to make Keefer an example, siccing his cops on the eaters. (On a side note, the film takes place in Pennsylvania, but all the bad guys speak with southern accents. Why?)

The plot concept isn't a bad one, with a decent set-up, and enough going on to sustain the film, but the movie doesn't seem to know what to do when it comes to telling the story, instead focusing more on wedging in one-liners and women's body parts (like one extra oddly rubbing her very fit stomach repeatedly), pacing be damned. The scene that sets the stage for the plot is so overlong and un-movie-like it feels like perhaps you sat on the remote and were watching some unconnected sitcom. Eventually it finds its footing and sticks to the storyline, but by that point, there's not a lot of story left, and you sort of know what's coming.

Though the structure could use work, and the dependence on potty humor is off-putting, bad acting is the film's mortal sin. Larson, who comes off a bit like an Adam Pally-lite, is easily the best thing the film has going for it, with Interdonato's aggressively bro-tastic pal being next in line, but most of the rest of the performances are either so over-the-top the just don't work, like the duo's two guido rivals, or just plain awkward, like Christina Pazcoquin's hot-girl-inexplicably-attracted-to our-leading-schlub. Her delivery is so off that when you realize she isn't getting naked, you wonder why she's here. That may also be the point where you wonder why you're here too.

The DVD
We can't say for sure, as the disc arrived in an envelope without a case, but this seems like it might be final product. The disc sports a static menu offering options to play the film, select chapters and check out the extra. There are no audio options, no subtitles and no closed captioning.

The Quality
The anamorphic widescreen transfer looks good for the most part, with nice bright colors and a decent level of fine detail, though it definitely looks more like TV than a movie. On the plus side, There are no issues with compression artifacts.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 track is rather solid, with nice separation between the actors' dialogue, the very active background sound and the aggressive soundtrack and score. There's nothing dynamic about the mix, but it all sounds good.

The Extras
The only extra is a trailer, but it's really more like a Cliffs Notes for the movie, as it takes you through basically the entire plot, even showing the ending.

The Bottom Line
By no stretch of the imagination would anyone consider Nacho Mountain to be a good movie, but at the same time, it's not the worst thing ever made, done in mainly by some terrible acting and bad pacing. The DVD looks and sounds fine, but is lacking in any real extras, which makes this the kind of movie you're more likely to watch on a lazy Sunday of TV movies than by any real choice. At least it isn't National Lampoon.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.