Spree (2020)

After checking out director Eugene Kotlyarenko's directorial debut WOBBLE PALACE, he ended up making a major mark on me. The film was no masterpiece but his presence and style certainly stood their own ground. The case holds true here as well, only Eugene has majorly upped the ante - advancing from an obscura mumblecore film with a cast of no-names, to a ... familiar-face-casted, dark comedy shocker presented in reality-style, mostly as if you were watching it on live streaming apps on a phone? This film is truly unique and extremely of-the-times.

Stranger Things' Joe Keery (lucky bloke is dating one of my main Hollywood crushes, Maika Monroe) does a fine job of playing a naively oblivious young adult desperate for a following on streaming apps. There are several scenes in the film where he goes above and beyond, really selling the part. David Arquette had a very strong presence, as usual, and it was really cool to see Kyle Mooney in there too, even if his character was a total chump (intentionally).

It's mostly Kotlyarenko's bizarre humor and fully singular humor which he infuses consistently, plus all the effort put into the stylish editing, and how outlandish the constant evolving of the ridiculous concepts are that really make Spree a special film, but the committed cast helps take it there too. There are sequences where you may feel like you want to stop watching - the amateurishness of a lot of it can be testing, but it's all intentional - you're not supposed to be comfortable, and overall, it pays off. There were at least a few scenes that would have had me fighting not to spit out my drink, if I had been drinking anything. This is definitely the most innovative movie I have seen come out in 2020, to say the least. Who knew a twisted parody of both Lyft/Uber and Tik Tok-esque culture could be so much fun?

Fmovies: I've been watching movies based around social media, and Spree does a lot of things right in that regard. Characters are on a livestream for half the movie. The comments from those livestreams are HILARIOUS and spot on. The language is contemporary ("incel", "beta", etc.) The director is 34, so this all makes sense. I like how characters weee introduced too.

Still, Spree is a bit of a mess. I can't really find the reason why. But the movie is only an hour and a half, and I took a nap midway through. It's missing something, but that's kind of the point. Really Spree deserves a 4.5, but in context with the kind of movie it is, I give it a bit of leeway.

I imagine that they intended to copy the movie infamous. Unlike infamous, this had a good storyline but the acting was terrible. It felt like I was watching a B-movie. I can honestly say that there are not too many movies once I started watching I will turn off, but this was one. The reason I gave three stars is because of the story line. Don't waste your time or money.

Spree fmovies. Entertaining and somewhat believable. I would have scored it higher if they wouldn't have put in all that annoying woke stuff in it!

Maybe people read the premise and thought this should be darker, more serious with the bleak subject matter or maybe they just didn't dig the humor. Personally, right from the jump Joe Keery and the visual direction of imitating a failing YouTube channel are spot on. It gives you more than enough context as to why you shouldn't sympathize with this fame obsessed dork while also helping establish just how authentic this type of person is, you probably know someone like Kurt. The tone the movie establishes is so bold, as it it should considering the main character is basically an Elliot Rodger type. This is such a taboo subject to explore in a low-budget horror comedy and I think the decision to play it so ridiculous makes the film flow a lot better than if they were trying to make this an actual compelling story. The comparison's to "Crank" are fair but even that had a serious relationship that kept propelling the character and story. 9 times out of 10 I really hate films that try to satirize internet culture in such an audacious way cuz it's normally not pulled off well and feels like it was written by out of touch people who clearly don't know what they're riffing. Fortunately that's not the case here, every character who uses the internet in the film feels appropriately written for what they're meant to represent. I hope Joe Keery and everyone involved in making this and getting it out don't focus on the negative reviews, I have a feeling people are gonna come around to this and I hope this inspires more people to try making inspired films like this with whatever means they have even if it's just phones and GoPros.

Another terrible film with phony positive reviews. You'll find more entertainment in mowing your lawn than you will in watching this train wreck.