WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Aren’t birthdays FUN! What better chance to spend mucho amounts of time pining for days past and doing your best to surmise what the future may hold, all while finding even more creative ways to enjoy celebrating your special day in the most unique and enjoyable fashion–which is precisely the time the doorbell rings, signaling the arrival of unexpected and perhaps uninvited guests? What IS a girl to do!? This is possible only scratching the surface of queries that run through the mind of a young, vibrant, confident woman named Anna (Dana Weddell), who relishes birthday treats for herself in, shall we say, multiple ways this particular time around, much to her pleasure and a man named Chase’s (Kevin Nelson) disoriented dismay.
On the cusp of fulfilling her ultimate wishes that the evening is about to manifest, the untimely clanging and clamoring at the front door of her small home causes more than a panicked uproar of “preparation” on Anna’s behalf before answering to find her dayjob’s co-workers Michael (Nate Leykam), Eddie (Quinton Guyton), Kate (Allison Scarlet Jaye), Janice (Cece Trask), and newbie Elizabeth (Lindsay Plake) all wanting to just stop by (“SURPRISE!!”) bearing gifts, well-wishes, and food for Anna’s big natal day. Evident feigning of happiness at this intrusion all over Anna’s demeanor, she reluctantly gives in to them visiting and in relatively short order, the “party” devolves into a chaotic interrupting of Anna’s secrets, schemes, and intent that could spell life-threatening consequences for everyone involved.
Next, my Mind:
An utterly unabashed, tongue-in-cheek, playfully irreverent, overtly off-the-wall, guffaw-inducing piece of straightforward, “witch-y” fun, this 89-minute indie feature film project from writer/director/producer Alan Wood and producer/cinematographer/editor Meleta McHarlin certainly covers the bases thematically and content-wise, a wide-ranging expose in goofy/slapstick humor, bodily functions gone awry, the insanity of office politics, the powder keg of prejudice/intolerance, sexual harassment, the (sometimes) burden of friends, and, of course, human sacrifice all wrapped up in a narrative that’s just as filled with crude language as it is with countless moments of hilarity and innocent silliness sure to please fans of said comedic leanings and those who can appreciate the satiric underbelly of the film and all it pokes fun at. As just hinted at, and more out of my oft established personal preference, the fairly substantial bouts of harsh language didn’t really please me, though admittedly the times it was being utilized tended to lend more jocularity to the sequences than being gratuitously added into the dialogue “just because”. Otherwise, this quickly-paced, smoothly flowing narrative about one sassy supernaturally-inclined gal and her myriad of misfortunes on one fateful birthday truly delivers pure, unadulterated entertainment and gives the facial muscles a workout with its jovial atmosphere and horror-imbued merriment, whose only true scene of blatant horror is so “Evil Dead 2”, the gruesomeness of it is eclipsed by the well-purposed and placed absurdity of it. You may still go “Ewww!!”, but you most likely will be doing it while laughter emanates from your throat.
What honestly astonished me the most is that despite everything presented being played primarily for wittiness, the film could very much be a poster child for so many of the wrongs in our current society when it comes to just how messed up so much of our view of fellow human beings is, sadly. All throughout the story, more specifically once Anna’s co-workers arrive, it really can be deduced from the nature of everyone’s overall manner and conversations that each has a skewed, even jaded, view of each other and by extension the world in some form or the other, granted carried out here to such extremes that its a total exercise in amusing delight and glee. But, given that underlying tone, it still begs us take stock of how this modern society has lost touch with having any real consideration for their fellow man and woman, rather only looking out for themselves and allowing that mentality to poison their attitudes towards anything that doesn’t fit into their personal paradigm. I don’t say this to imply any of that level of seriousness was the design or objective of Wood & Company, but those facets of the film’s characters and thematic explorations happened to stick out to me and how they truly do reflect real world trends amongst us, whether wanting to admit it or not. If anything, this critic was grateful to see these factors addressed at such a purely hilarious fashion, perhaps believing this farcical exposing of them might actually make us think a little more about how we are in reality. Visually the film maintains an uncomplicated appearance, though a pivotal make-up/SFX moment during the film’s wacky finale was quite impressive to me.
There is zero questioning that Weddell had a completely, wondrously, delicious time getting to play the sassy, deviously unassuming, quietly (initially anyway) menacing, serial-killer-smile-wearing Anna, a vivacious young woman whose proclivities and true identity are carefully, meticulously hidden from the prying eyes of the real world (well, at least at first) as she reveals to the viewer hints of said tendencies and inclinations right from the start in most devilish ways, and at the potential cost to a poor shmuck held captive in her garage. Things seems to be going according to plan until the unplanned distraction of having to entertain co-workers whom she could truly care less about when they inexplicably show up to celebrate her birthday. Events don’t take long to start unfolding, much to Anna’s growing chagrin, and even as one by one her enigma is stripped away to the point of losing it altogether in many a way, her attempts to keep the guests in line only births more tumult. Finally caving in due to a series of non self-imposed revelations brought about by her nosy/ignorant friends, the jig is up, and everything spirals towards doom, but whether for all or just one, we have to watch and see. From an opening sexy dance to her uproarious mannerisms, body language, facial expressions, and deliberately overplayed exasperation as events decidedly go NOT Anna’s way, Weddell engages the viewer with beautiful abandon and endears you to her the whole way, again just KNOWING she’s savoring each and every moment as she goes from controlled to slowly boiling to outraged via the character’s journey. How much fun to enact it had to be, and Weddell displays it transparently throughout.
But, let us not, by any means, remotely downplay the efforts of the brilliant ensemble of co-stars who make this nuttiness perpetuate, well, it’s nuttiness! Nelson is quite funny as Anna’s unsuspecting boy toy Chase, who certainly knows Tinder will never be something he utilizes to find a date again! A lovable, mildly clueless guy, Chase is put through the humiliating ringer in comic ways that do make you hope he makes it out of it all alive. Leykam thrives as Michael, the boss at Anna’s job who, to say the least, has quite the “need-to-shut-up-now” vibes exuding from his pores, a harassment suit on legs whose brainless inappropriateness is barely able to be contained until circumstances quiet him, at least for a time. Guyton likewise excels as Eddie, a man with quite the–active–bowels and an overly placating air that gets him into plenty of trouble while being oblivious yet strangely more aware of events that are transpiring, mostly by accident. Jaye wonderfully enacts the role of Kate, the true alpha of the group, who puts up with no fussing about from the others yet indicates she has her own, more unbridled side lurking underneath an executive’s surface, even though she strives to keep her “I’ve got it all together” stance. Trask is a total hoot as Janice, a veteran of the workplace but a total people pleaser to the point of not actually knowing what to say other than ridiculous, random statements in given situations that mainly seem to hide her massive insecurities, socially and otherwise. Finally there is Plake, a mirth-inducing scene stealer in her role as newbie employee Liz who becomes the catalyst for much of the building pandemonium that occurs, even as she’s blamed for a lot, threatened with being fired, and basically serves as a “please haze me” magnet who could end up being the real hero of it all.
The way this cast worked and gelled together is undeniably obvious in seeing how the characters interact so seamlessly, and that is a key for any ensemble film such as this, regardless of the nature of the film itself. Two additional parts are played here via voices only from Tuesday Grant as Anna’s unseen, mainly text-based friend Immortal_Ho, and Garrett Smith who gives “life” to Anna’s special book. In total, “Life’s A B****, And Then One Kills You” is the perfect type of indie oddball-but-magnificently fun comedic effort that’s perfect for a time of just sitting back and enjoying 89 minutes of predominately light-hearted giddiness that we could all truly use more of in this day and age when relaxing and having simple delight seems like a lost cause.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
