All rhythm guitarist/songwriter Eddie (Scott Rosa) had in mind for the
evening was a quiet dinner for his bandmates - Chas (Michael Graziadei),
Toss (Flood Reed) and Gunther (John Joyce) - and their absolutely closest
friends, but before you know it, things get a little out of hands, a
little more ... and all of a sudden they party like rockstars (which they
are actually), with plenty of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll - and then Eddie
wakes up with a dead deer in his bed and the distinct feeling his
girlfriend Jenny (Autumn Federici), whom he loves very much, has ditched
him last night. Now he tries to figure out what has been going on, how he
could fix his relationship, and where (and with whom) Jenny even is ...
but at first draws a total blank. And the best way his bandmates figure to
make him (and themselves) remember again is to get totally drunk and high
- which helps even, even if what he remembers isn't always what he would
like to, like Jenny flirting (and maybe getting intimate) with their
record company's sleazy A&R Spencer (Matt Hish) - but what the band
finds in the swimming pool suddenly dwarves all of Eddie's problems: The
dead body of a man who might be their record label's boss Reuben (David
Barry Gray). Now no matter who the dead body really is, our heroes
figure they're fucked, as they really cannot remember how the body got
their - and died in the first place - and slowly but surely the alcohol to
help jog their memory runs low. And then two cops (Tom Gatto, Jared
Bonner) show up on the doorstep, and even if they seem incompetent as can
be, it seems they have just stepped into an open-and-shut case ... In
writing, it might seem The Blackout is just your typical gross-out
comedy as it has all the right (?) elements: Hardcore partying, massive
alcohol and drug use, puking aplenty, a dead deer and of course a burning
sofa - but on closer inspection, The Blackout is actually a very
interesting and unusual murder mystery, as despite all the boozing and
puking and whatnot, the whole thing is rather well-structured, it peels
away layer after layer of its story while only seemingly stumbling through
an alcohol-induced mist and actually manages to tell a story with
beginning, middle and end rather than a series of loosely connected fart
jokes. Add to this a direction that avoids the obvious, often interesting
yet subtle camerawork and a very competent cast, and you've got a pretty
good movie. Recommended!
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