My Big Fat Independent Movie

My Big Fat Independent Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPhilip Zlotorynski
Written byChris Gore
Adam Schwartz
Produced byChris Gore
StarringPauly Shore
Jason Mewes
Clint Howard
Paget Brewster
Brian Krow
CinematographyScott Peck
Edited byPhilip Zlotorynski
Music byJoe Kraemer
Distributed byAnchor Bay Entertainment
Release date
  • September 30, 2005 (2005-09-30)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3 million
Box office$4,655

My Big Fat Independent Movie is a 2005 American independent parody comedy film produced and written by former film critic Chris Gore and directed by Philip Zlotorynski. It is a parody of well-known independent films,[1] such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Memento, Swingers, Pulp Fiction, Magnolia, Amélie, Reservoir Dogs, Pi, The Good Girl, Run Lola Run, Clerks and El Mariachi. My Big Fat Independent Movie was eventually acquired by Anchor Bay Entertainment distribution and the film was released on DVD. Broadcast cable rights were picked up by CBS Corporation for Showtime, The Movie Channel and Sundance Channel.

Plot

The movie opens with a black man molesting a white man who has trouble remembering events for more than 15 minutes at a time. The film then cuts forward in time to two talkative hitmen, Sam (Neil Barton) and Harvey (Eric Hoffman), who mistakenly believe Johnny Vince (Darren Keefe), a hipper-than-thou swingin' hepcat and Memento Guy (Brian Krow) to band trombone player, to be the third member of their gang, assembled by their evil crime boss to pull a "botched robbery" in Las Vegas. Along the way, they take a beautiful demented hostage – the lovely, desperate and lonely cashier Julianne (Paget Brewster). They are unaware that she will forever change their pathetic lives. During the journey, the foursome encounter a variety of characters inspired by famous independent films, including a bald genius, a forgetful thug, a jogging red-head, a bound and gagged girl, rabbis on a mission, many lesbians, Project Greenlight's Pete Jones, a crazed though well-dressed mechanic (Clint Howard), a horny answering machine (Jason Mewes), a naive mariachi, an obnoxious practical-joking love-struck French girl, and finally Pauly Shore as himself.

Reception

My Big Fat Independent Movie was a box-office bomb, earning only $4,655 in box office receipts during its world-wide run[2] with an estimated budget of around $3,000,000.[3] The film was poorly received by the consensus of critics who reviewed the film, receiving a low 23% rotten rating over at Rotten Tomatoes.[4] Internet debate soon erupted over the film's lowbrow treatment of independent film classics and caused backlash from die-hard independent film fans.[5] Chris Parry, entertainment journalist and film critic for efilmcritic.com, found that the movie targeted films that were too well liked by its intended audience, and a larger (more mainstream) audience wouldn't recognize the referenced films.[5] Controversy over the film ensued after the producer's former publication "Filmthreat" (who co-produced the film) gave the movie a perfect 5 star review. In light of the controversy and public backlash, the company distanced itself from the movie. Before its limited domestic release, the film had been pre-screened on the festival circuit[5] including Cinequest, South by Southwest,[6] San Diego Film Festival, Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Worldfest Houston, and the Temecula Valley Film Festival.[1][7][8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b Catsoulis, Jeannette (November 25, 2005). "Film in review; My Big Fat Independent Movie - An Exhaustive Indie Spoof". The New York Times. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  2. ^ "My Big Fat Independent Movie". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  3. ^ "My Big Fat Independent Movie". IMDB.
  4. ^ "My Big Fat Independent Movie". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 28, 2010. ("23%")
  5. ^ a b c Parry, Chris (March 13, 2005). "My Big Fat Independent Movie". efilmcritic.com. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  6. ^ Diaz, Victor (October 10, 2005). "SXSW Film Fest kicks off Friday night". News 8 Austin. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  7. ^ "Temecula Valley International Film Festival 2005: Best Feature Film Winner.". IMDB. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  8. ^ "'My Big Fat' is a big fat joke and a parody". The Detroit News. November 4, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2010. Crude, dumb, mean-spirited and occasionally very funny, [it] takes swipe after swipe at the pretensions of the independent film industry and, as with most crude, dumb and mean-spirited comedies, it can't help but connect here and there.
  9. ^ Newton, Robert (January 24, 2006). "New on DVD". Cinematical.com. Retrieved January 28, 2010. This occasionally hilarious spoof...has its share of things that make you go "d'oh!", but it moves fast enough to forget most of them.