Kent
Oscar, P.I. (1998/2001)
There's no denying that "Kent Oscar, P.I.," a local
Austin film, is a technical nightmare. But underneath
all the mangled Foley, pumped-up score music, horribly
dubbed dialogue and grainy film stock images lies a
delightful and fun loving little comedy that sure has
it's heart in the right place.
Brought to us by the Austin brothers (yes that's their
real names), brother Michael acts in the lead while
sibling Ken directs. The film is a pretty standard P.I.
spoof. Yes, when it gets into plot and exposition via
dialogue, the film falls flat on it's face. But when
it takes a moment for an absurdist aside, the film will
often tickle your funnybone, sometimes making you chuckle
out loud. About every five minutes one of these moments,
either a subtle jab via dialogue, or more often then
not, a ridiculous visual image, will pop up to relieve
the rather drab plot and make the film seem worthy and
warmhearted. It's not uproarious, but it sure is cute.
Michael Austin certainly isn't the best actor to ever
be captured by the magic box but he does have some charm.
His whiny voice and pudgy facade permeate the film but
eventually his sweetness and breezy manner win us over.
The film makes the mistake of trying to make fun of
his weight, with jokes about him eating all the time,
and that is tired, but comedy is subjective... And hey,
there's a fart joke too. And yes, damnit, it made me
laugh.
Technical inadequacies aside, the film is directed
with wonderful visual flair by Ken Austin. There are
several shots where the camera often glides through
the scene, most of these quite well crafted. Of course,
there's a couple that don't work too. A close-up of
Michael's wide posterior after he grabs a candydish
filled with chocolate look ridiculous and doesn't work
but a dolly shot past several walls leading into a two
shot does.
The Austin brothers also defied backyard filmmaking
convention when it came to exhibiting their film. Rather
than attempt to go the festival route, or set up a one-time
screening at a local venue like the Alamo - or the Paramount,
the brothers have talked a couple of major theater chain,
Cinemark and Regal, into exhibiting the film for one
week at a local megaplex. If it does well, it will be
held over. It's a gutsy move and shows the chutzpah
these guys have in getting their film seen. They've
even bought TV spots, done radio promotions and gotten
all the local news agencies to cover the film. These
guys are a promotion machine. Not since Mark David was
hyping his film "Sweet Thing" in 1999 have I seen a
local filmmaker with this much promotional savvy.
"Kent Oscar, P.I." was filmed in Austin and a lot
of the fun is catching sight of local landmarks. But
it's just as much fun to sit back and let the film's
goofy jokes tickle you as well. The film is slight,
it's true. But it's certainly not the worst amateur
film I've ever seen that has been filmed here. Not by
a long shot.
Notes:
Filmed and produced over an eight year period.
In the seen where the secretary puts on a pair of
headphones and dances around for no apparent reason,
she is listening to a song performed by the her (the
actress') husband's band.
The first 40 seconds of the film took one year to
produce.
The film's endtitles list the film's production date
as 1998 even though it was not exhibited to the public
until 2001.
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