Plot:
A young man is fired from his job at a meat shop. Out of anger he robs the shop of all their meat at night. To prove to himself that he is a good person, he decides to spread the meat around to people on the street. This sets off an adventure that will show many sides of him...
Our thoughts:
It's not too often that I stumble upon movies that remind me of the work of Joel Potrykus ("Coyote", "Ape" and "Buzzard"). I certainly did not expect to find it in this strange title that played Fantasia Internation Film Festival called "Meathead Goes Hog Wild". My expectations for the movie were far off, and that's actually a good thing in every way. I was expecting a very eccentric, over-the-top weird movie that just tried too hard. "Meathead Goes Hog Wild" is absolutely a weird movie, but there was a lot more heart and emotion to find in it than in the majority of weird indies we stumble upon here.
"Meathead Goes Hog Wild" is about a man who is down on his luck after he is fired from the meat shop. Luckily he has been looking forward to getting together with a woman who he met just previous to getting fired. But before he gets to contact her, he has a little break down that begins with him robbing the meat shop of all their meat. He gives a big steak to a homeless person outside of his apartment, who then gives him the idea of spreading the meat among people on the streets as an act of kindness. So he gives it a go - but while some people appreciate the gesture, it's not a smart idea to do it in the city in the middle of the night. After a few tricky situations, he snaps for real.
The best thing about this movie is that it's a perfect blend of slacker comedy and indie oddity. There are moments where not a lot happens and there's just a bunch of hanging around, but somehow they managed to make that enjoyable and add effect to things that are coming later on. Sure, I wouldn't say that they've reached quite the slacker power of contemporary Joel Potrykus, but we feel a similar love and hate for Kevin Cline's character as we do in Joshua Burge's in both "Ape" and "Buzzard".
It's quite a long movie considering the somewhat thin plot, at around 100 minutes. Because we enjoy the lead character, this doesn't feel as such a long time. But if you are unable to connect with him, I will pretty much tell you to turn off the movie. You'll simply have a hard time enjoying it, because there is a lot of him. He gets weird and obnoxious, and it's hard to find that much sympathy for him at times. Despite that I thought this was a fun movie.
It's strange, and at times I struggled to understand the point of things. It's not a fantastic movie, but there's still a lot to enjoy if you have a place in your heart for indie slacker films. If you mix "Buzzard" (I keep bringing it up, but it's what it reminded me of) with "Falling Down", then you are somewhat close to this movie. Sometimes a quirky, comedic slacker drama, but then it escalates to a night of violence and weird animalistic urges. You are probably reading this review because you were intrigued by the title, so let me guarantee that this is about a meathead (he works at a meat shop), and he goes crazy like an animal (hog wild). |
