Frenemy (2009– 80 mins) M. Modine, Callum Blue, A. Baldwin

There are a bunch of red flags that go up when looking at this image in the red box or the cover of the DVD. First the movie wasn’t even called Frenemy to begin with. Originally it was called “Little Fish, Strange Pond”.  Next the image is promoting the mug of Zach Galifianakis prominently in the middle with Blue and Modine in opposite sides of balance scales. The other part of this problem is how the movie is billed as a comedy and “darkly hilarious”. Dark? Sure. Comedy is a bit of a stretch, it’s more a drama with some funny lines here and there but it sure is “dark”. The gimmick of these pieces is to put funnyman of the hour Galifiniakis in the limelight and hope some of his new fame to sell a few copies or get a few rentals when he is in it for all of about 10 mins. I am actually fine with the whole scales imagery b/c it does fit pretty well with the theme of the movie. As does the orig title of Little Fish, strange pond, but I will get to that in a bit.

The movie revolves around Mr. Jack (Modine) and Sweet Stephan (Blue), as they wander around LA and the hi-jinks that seems to follow them around. There are murders, hold ups, movie theaters, drinks, and they will sit in on a Springer like talk show. All in a good days walk and all while Modine is rambling on and on like a character out of a Tarantino/Kevin Smith mixer. His basic teaching to Stephan is how the world revolves around balance. Basically, a what goes around comes around, and it’s obviously a main theme of the movie. The movie is also very Tarantino-esque as well. We have 3 independent stories which all intersect at various points. The first being Jack and Stephan, second being Cop Tommy (Baldwin) chasing general crime and a murderer, and another story of the Springer show itself.

At first glance the typical viewer will either walk out or turn this off after 10 mins or so. It starts slow and Modine just comes across as a complete dick, even going so far as to annoy the hell out of everyone on a bus and tripping a child on said bus. However, if you stick with it, an actual plot starts to come thru, and the semblance of the 3 stories starts to unfold. Don’t get me wrong it’s no masterpiece and there is a couple of open threads left after the movie (which kinda always drives me insane) but those are few. It’s just a bit slow, but it has some thematic merritts, you just have to be patient and watch it all the way through.  

Verdict–> It’s not a movie for the majority. The only people who will like this, or get it, are people who have a love of movies itself, or underlieing themes. If you do then it will keep you thinking even after the credits are done. Everyone else will just dismiss it as a low budget flick with a few bad accents (on purpose) and cameos around most turns, and they too wouldn’t be wrong. If you love complex movies and nothing else you haven’t seen there at the Red Box then pick it up. Oh and major F-U to the writers and director tho, 80 mins??? WTF nut up buddy and get some more content to show us 80 mins is a disgrace.

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