Skills Like This DVD: Review By B. Alan Orange

The so-called "quirky" comedy has become a genre within itself. Sometimes bizarre character behavior and unwittingly moronic action sequences can support a decent enough script. But most of the time, it's just a director being weird for weird's sake. In the past ten years, a new crop of filmmaker has appeared from the dust of nonsensical plotting. They've been able to create their own odd little worlds that work despite their garish, naked sense of humor. Wes Anderson, Jared and Jerusha Hess, and especially Harmony Korine have been able to bring something special and heartfelt into their squirmy quirk fests, bringing them within the dense shade of classic cinema. They are the rare designers that understand peculiarity in narrative, and they are often able to bring a blas&#233, nowhere joke into the foreground of plausibility. Monty Miranda has studied these filmmakers, hoping to turn his directorial debut Skills Like This into something a little more dense and subversive than your average "hotdog in the *sshole of humanity for joke's sake" B grade video store toss-off. He succeeds on many levels. Working from a script by his two leading men, Spencer Berger and Gabriel Tigerman, Monty has crafted a comedy heist adventure in the same vein as Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket. The comparisons are easy to make, as this is a group of excellent unknowns showing their dramatic and comedic chops for the first time. There isn't an actor present who isn't capable of going on to bigger things (though not necessarily better as the film is quite grand). Berger stars as Max, an aspiring writer whose latest play (a truly horrible little stage stinker called "The Onion Dance") has given his grandfather a heart attack. Disillusioned with his course in life, Max one day decides to rob a bank on the spur of the moment, all while his two buddies Dave (Gabriel Tigerman) and Lil' Tommy (Brian D. Phelan) continue to eat Mexican food across the street. Despite his magnificent Afro, which becomes a character in itself, almost at times upstaging the actor, Max gets away with his crime. His friends both have decidedly mixed feelings about Max's new career path, and the three of them work together as one Id, struggling with its own self-conscious and the implications that arrive from this act of robbery. Miranda understands the reality of the situation, and doesn't play one false note. He follows Max as a real, breathing individual, and lets his course evolve naturally. Young and unsure of his future, Max eventually falls hard for the bank teller he first held up. All the while, Dave and Tom try to come to terms with their own place in this strange life. It's an internal journey that leads our trio of misfits to some quite surprising places. Yet, they are never too busy to take the occasional surreal sidestep into quirkville. There is a subplot about a pimped out low-rider bicycle that could have easily found a home inside the narrative walls of Napoleon Dynamite. Miranda never lets his story stray too far from the bounds of acceptability, though. The film honestly honors friendship and love, and because of that, it's a little bit more special than your average dumpster crime spree. If you are looking for something new and interesting, Skills Like This will leave you satisfied and smiling. And you'll most likely add it to your list of favorite films for the year.

There are some truly great deleted scenes. Each one is entertaining, but at the same time, it's easy to tell why they were excised. Some would have prolonged the perfect runtime. Others simply don't fit the overall tone of the film. But, surprisingly, they aren't throwaway moments. And if you enjoy Skills Like This, you will definitely derive some pleasure from watching these lost moments. The cast and crew gather for a series of insightful interviews. There is a trailer called "Fundraiser" which was compelled from screen test footage. It's pretty interesting to watch, as it is compiled from scenes that were reshot later. We also get to see director Monty's SXSW award acceptance speech (it won the audience award).

The film is presented in Full Frame. In color. The feature run time is one hour and twenty-six minutes. It has not been rated.

The film is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo.

Max's signature Afro is adorned in an aesthetically pleasing, yet rudimentary drawing that establishes the hipness of the film itself. We get four character boxes featuring the four main actors in the film. There is brooding, blood, tattoos, and a hot chick. Lil' Tom has his fingers pointed at the audience like a gun. Dangerous, yet funny. It's very iconic and cool. And it proudly states that it is an audience award winning film. The back cover shows us Max running down the street with a giant stuffed giraffe. Quirky, yet oddly provocative. I would certainly be interested in checking out this film.

Monty Miranda, along with his cast and screenwriters, has created a funny little heist movie that could become a cult oddity if it's not careful. It certainly seems in danger of finding a hardcore audience. Skills Like This is able to skirt its own affable laugh track to become that rare gem you'll have to discover on your own when breezing through your Netflix cue. I strongly recommend you check it out, especially if you like the films of Wes Anderson and Jared Hess.