Hot Picks
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Marathon
USA 2021
produced by May May Luong, Kris Manzano, Keith Strausbaugh, Anthony Guidubaldi, Stephen Joseph (executive), Deborah Kay Kinzel (executive) for Hot Tub Mimosas
directed by Keith Strausbaugh, Anthony Guidubaldi
starring Kimia Behpoornia, Tavius Cortez, Andrew Hansen, Natalie Sullivan, Anais Thomassian, Roberto Raad, Jimmy Slonina, Marc Roberts, Jeremy Boone, Andrew Jacobsen, Ron Silver, Claire McAllister, Tiffany Luce, Philip Kotler, Cody LeBoeuf, Ryan Neufeld, Joe Palubinsky, Darren Pitura, Tiffany Thompson, Kasey Wilson
written by Keith Strausbaugh, Anthony Guidubaldi
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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A film that follows marathon promoter Ed Clap (Jimmy Slonina),
preparing for his annual (usually under-organized) Devil's Canyon
Marathon, as well as five hopeful participants, training for the event: There's
overly ambitious Ryan (Andrew Hansen), whose ambitions are unfortunately
far higher than his talents, who's accident-prone, and who regards
everybody as competition, even the film's camera guy. There's Shareef
(Tavius Cortez), who basically wants to show his triathlete sister
(Tiffany Luce) what he's really made of, but who can't go out of the house
to train as local police automatically suspects black people jogging to
actually be running from the law. There's young mother Abby (Anais
Thomassian), who really uses training for the marathon as an excuse to get
out of the house from time to time and at the same time force her husband
(Marc Roberts) to help with the housework. Then there's Jenna (Natalie
Sullivan), who wants to beat the world record in finishing a marathon
dressed up as a fruit. For product placement purposes though, Jenna is
sided with another runner in a fruit costume, Ben (Roberto Raad), which
she's furious about, but against all odds they land in bed together. And
finally there's Emilou (Kimia Behpoornia), who pretty much gives up right
after she finds out what distance the marathon will actually cover, but
the camera still follows her around. Of these five, not all will make it
to the end - and some not even to the start ... When it comes
to mockumentaries, this one pretty much hits the nail on the head, as it's
just a really funny movie, but without just going moronic and while
staying on subject most of the time (with the deviations coming across as
intentional). And what makes this movie such a hoot is probably the
characters who are just the right kind of diverse, but who feel just real
enough to remain relatable, and the actors really have their roles down to
make them work in a way that they work as more than just deliverers of
jokes. Very cool entertainment, really.
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