Comic Book Villains [DVD]

 

 

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Comic Book Villains is a small film in a lot of respects. It's low budget, with a cast of under 10 and exploring the niche of comic book stores in small town America.

Almost from the get go it's claustraphobic. The story is simple there are 2 stores in the town a small grubby store run by a fan for other fans and a larger shinier store run for profit.

Both hear of a massive collection of comics that's recently become available after an old ladies son dies and a series of one upmanship and competition to buy the comics she doesn't want to sell ensues.

It's pretty standard rivalry fair for a whil eand quite funny but at the end turns very dark in a "War of the Roses" sort of vein.

Overall it's a nice little movie despite the budget restrictions none of the characters develop much depth but it's still worth a look.

Personal recomendation rent before you buy

Had some funny bits in but would not be in a rush to watch it again. Worth buying for a couple of pounds.

Comic book blockbusters may sizzle, sparkle, but Wolverine, Magento, Batman and all their spandex-lite page-mates would stay that way if it weren't for the selling outlets and those who buy those comics slavishly, and this fiendish, clever, black-as jet comedy concentrates on that certain demographic for a change, and how a deep devotion to something can overspill into deep obsession. The setting: small town America and student DJ Qualls (busiest young actor of 2002) is a nice, decent comic-geek who's oily buddy Raymond McGillicuddy (Donal Logue) keeps a comic book store in need of major repairs and bitterly resents the rival store across town who pull in the kids with their accessories and appear more prosperous, though their taxes and overheads hang heavy, so when a double-dealing rich kid drops news of the recently deceased owner of some truly valuable old books potentially worth millions,suddenly Raymond and the other couple, played with imbecillic perfection by Michael Rapaport and his scarily single-minded and dangerous wife Judy (Natasha Lyonne of the rubbish American Pie series) are beating a path to the dead guy's mother's door in blantantly obscene attempts to smooze up to her to get her to sell, played wonderfully by old screen stalwart Eileen Brennan.

But she's a canny old dear, so sadly her polite but firm ongoing refusals tip the desperate pair's fragile egos into stratospheric heights of lunacy as their rivalry flicks past farcical to violent. A psychotic loner from the McGillicuddy's past (a quietly sinister Cary Elwes) is drawn into the deal and cements an explosive middle-section where a perhaps unexpected poignancy creeps in courtesy of a touching friendship between DJ's character and the collector's old mum, which sweetens the nastiness of the spiralling tone, and humanises the necessarily OTT machinations of this genre. Unlike virtually all villains in horror, the moral that greed doesn't really pay and material things valued over decency to your fellow man and woman seems to hold strong for black comedies and this is so here.

I always feel this genre terribly underrated and forever decreed unbankable, particularly when cast without so-called A-listers. Only 'The Last Supper' and 'Very Bad Things' seemed to find a cinema release with support behind them, but those, while enjoyable, are two typically weaker examples of the group, but this little-seen gem is a shining stone alongside the 'Love Kills', 'The Refs', 'Drowning Monas' and the 'Ruthless Peoples' that really make black comedies a winner like no other comedy type.

The direction is assured and flamboyant as a black comedy needs and suit the performances all perfectly tuned to suit the material. DJ Qualls is delightfully sensitive among a lot of nasty jerks who feel something should be theirs just cos they want it, but in fairness, both Cary Elwes (so often in unseemly rubbish not worthy of his calibre) and Natasha Lyonne as the toxically ambitious wife, so damn scary for one so young. 'American Pie' really shows nothing of her worth, though her gun-toting self on the cover of 'Confessions Of A Trickbaby' is far more like this role. Anyone with a love of comics or well-played dark comedies should collect 'Comic Book Villains' at once, especially as years after its release, its price has gone straight down, though I assure all its value remains high and sure to grow with repeated viewings.

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