Post by StevePulaski on Sept 5, 2017 19:43:00 GMT -5
Homo Erectus (2007)
Directed by: Adam Rifkin
Directed by: Adam Rifkin
Adam Rifkin's Ishbo character as a young boy in Homo Erectus.
Rating: ★★
Adam Rifkin is one of the most fiercely original filmmakers working today. Never making two similar pictures, Rifkin's work stretches from strange and eclectic (The Dark Backward), from broadly humorous (Detroit Rock City), to experimental and subversive (Look and Director's Cut). He has found a happy medium in making films that clearly showcase his passion for film and his original ideas that also gain respect and admiration from people that watch his creativity unfold with each project.
On that note, it's not that Homo Erectus is a bad movie, but it's an underwhelming one given what we've seen from him and know what he's capable of doing. Committed to a slapstick nature but only sporadically funny as a result, Homo Erectus (also known as National Lampoon's The Stoned Age thanks to Wal-Mart's overreaction and subsequent title-change) functions as a pit-stop for Rifkin, who will certainly make better films with most of the same people found in this picture.
Give Rifkin credit for assembling an ensemble cast of recognizable faces. We have Hollywood favorites David Carradine and Ali Larter working alongside Rifkin-regulars Giuseppe Andrews and Miles Dougal, with cameo appearances by Ron Jeremy, Sasha Grey, Tom Arnold, and Gary Busey, all while Rifkin leads the pack of celebrity Mad-Libs. He plays Ishbo, the son of a caveman tribe-leader (Carradine), who is smarter and more ambitious than his fellow tribesmen. Socially awkward and paling in physical comparison to his brother Thudnik (Hayes MacArthur, another frequent collaborator with Rifkin), Ishbo gets by in life by inventing things such as pants and other gear that he believes his people can use instead of funneling all his energy into "clubbing" random women for his pleasure.
But Ishbo has long had an unrequited crush on Fardart (Larter), a woman who has only been a casual friend to him in the past that is more smitten with Thudnik than she is his sensitive self. Couple that with an imminent attack on his tribe from the rival Binadraks, Ishbo and his friends Zig (Andrews) and Zog (Dougal) arm themselves with makeshift weaponry in order to defend what little they have in hopes they can fend off the opposition in time for Ishbo to club the woman of his dreams.
If you couldn't put the context clues together to get the meaning of "clubbing" a woman, it involves a man lightly but firmly striking a woman on the head with an oversized caveman-weapon. This is, I believe, supposed to replace the act of sexual intercourse; a more caustic or mean-spirited approach would've potentially incited a suggestive double-whammy between domestic violence and non-consensual sex, but Rifkin's focus is so tame that it doesn't become as problematic as one might believe. It's a gag that is relied on a bit too heavily, but it still is a far-cry from the kind of offensive subtext it could've prompted.
But Homo Erectus is one of those films you can't take too seriously because it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's greatly reminiscent of A Million Ways to Die in the West, the Seth MacFarlane film which would see a release five years after this one's direct-to-DVD distribution. Both films share the similarity of a director/writer (in this case Rifkin) finally becoming an actor in his own project, clearly working off passion and idealism brought to subject matter and a concept that probably made them laugh quite a bit. Again, this is the kind of project you can visualize Rifkin using to blow off steam and cut loose rather than make something potentially groundbreaking like a good portion of his filmography really is.
The fact we get a barrage of indie actors, recognizable faces, porn stars, and B-movie stars coming together for a film that pleasantly doesn't take itself too seriously with a concept that is self-aware enough to know it can't sustain two hours is charming enough before one realizes that desperately few of the film's jokes land. Rifkin has always been one for delightfully understated humor in his movies, or humor based on situational or ironic tendencies found in his vignette or anthology-style films. In Homo Erectus, that kind of humor is pretty close to being incompatible with the slapstick it demands, which makes him rely on a lot of humor found in your average sitcom or TV special. A lot of it doesn't work, though it's not hopelessly ill-conceived to the point where your face rests in stone like many of the monuments that surround Ishbo and company for much of the film.
Sometimes the concept proves to be fruitful. There are scenes of intense training and discipline that vaguely echo Full Metal Jacket, and Rifkin's passion for something so silly is communicated throughout his tongue-in-cheek performance and writing. Homo Erectus may be one of the weaker additions to his filmography, but it shows a commitment to making film fun, even when it might not be funny.
Starring: Adam Rifkin, Ali Larter, Haynes MacArthur, David Carradine, Giuseppe Andrews, Miles Dougal, Sasha Grey, Gary Busey, Tom Arnold, and Ron Jeremy. Directed by: Adam Rifkin.