Shtickmen

This painfully unfunny mockumentary, scripted by Dallas hopefuls Eric Jewell, Jeff Hays, and Dean Lewis, suggests that Christopher Guest has a lot to answer for. An unskilled comedian (Lewis) teaches a course in stand-up to even more unskilled locals, while an unskilled filmmaker (Jewell) and his crew document their fumblings; meanwhile another comic (David Wilk), who’s notorious for stealing material, lands his own TV series. Though Guest bases his humor on incompetence, his ensemble players know how to make the characters funny; this crew mainly tries to coast along on its amiable intentions, but it doesn’t wash. Jewell and Hays directed. 86 min. (JR)

This entry was posted in Featured Texts. Bookmark the permalink.