I attended a special screening of Gentlemen Broncos Monday evening.  By special I mean the cast, screenwriter/director Jared Hess and their friends were also there.  As it turns out, this isn’t always the best way to see a film.

    On the plus side, there was a Q&A after the movie, during which Hess (Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre) and cast answered questions that explained a great deal.  (More on that later.)  Better still, the Q&A was followed by a reception -- with an open bar.

    What could be bad?  The film, for one thing.  It’s kind of embarrassing hanging out after the show with people who put so much effort into something so -- how to put this? -- sucky.  How embarrassing?  I felt guilty drinking their liquor and left without so much as a sip of Blue Moon.

    Gentlemen Broncos might have worked better if it had not been an idea generated by someone who thinks concepts from sixth grade notebooks make for good cinema.

    Hess is known for his silliness, so maybe he was just joking.  Certainly, neither Napoleon not Nacho were works of intellectual heft.  But they made me laugh.   Gentlemen Broncos, not so much.

    Benjamin Purvis (Michael Angarano) is 17 years old, home schooled and writes science fiction stories.  His widowed mother, Judith (Jennifer Coolidge), scrapes up enough money to send him to the Cletus Festival, a writing camp, where he meets fellow home schoolers, Tabatha (Halley Feiffer), an aspiring romance writer, and Lonnie (Hector Jimenez), a filmmaker with Jimmy (J.J.) Walker lips. 

    He also meets his idol, Dr. Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement), a sci-fi legend.  Chevalier will lecture at the festival and explain how to come up with names for their characters.  Add onius, aunus and anous to any name, he says, “and you come up with something magical.”

    But Chevalier has troubles beyond naming characters.  He’s hit a dry spell, and his publisher threatens to drop him unless he comes up with something decent.  Luck is on his side.  He reads Benjamin’s manuscript, Yeast Lords: The Bronco Years, submitted as part of a contest at the fest, and publishes it as The Chronicles of Brutus and Balzaak to great acclaim.

    As young Purvis tells him later: “All you did was change the name and turn Bronco into a tranny.”

    Tabatha and Lonnie also loved Benjamin’s story and film it.

    The result: movie goers see the story told from several perspectives: Benjamin’s story; Chevalier’s version; and the low-rent film put together by Lonny and Tabatha.

    This approach sounds better in theory than in practice.  Husband and wife scripters Jared and Jerusha, believe it humorous to have Chevalier wear a Blue Tooth device the entire film, but use landlines instead. 

    Their idea of fun is to have a character go everywhere with an albino boa constrictor rapped around his neck and for the snake to have a bowel movement while perched there.

    Their idea of fun is to have Tabatha kiss Benjamin for the first time just after he’s puked -- and before he’s had a chance to wipe.  Should that be your standard for humor, this is definitely the film for you.

    Gentlemen Broncos has some redeeming features, most notably Clement as the delusional, self-involved author, Chevalier.   He brings to the role the same madcap authority he brings to his role as half Flight of the Conchords duo.

    Coolidge is excellent as Coolidge a clueless designer of nightgowns, including one that look like something worn by the Jack of Spades.

    Angarano also excels as the bewildered home schooled boy who can’t understand what’s happening to him out in the real world. ★½☆☆☆☆ -- Curt Schleier

    Gentlemen Broncos opens in limited release Friday (Oct. 30).

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