Killer Diller (2004)
"Killer Diller" starts off seeming
like it is going to be pretty typical and pretty horrible.
Troubled youth William Lee Scott gets out of jail
and goes to a halfway house on a Baptist college campus
(why?) where Fred Willard (who apparently has only
one character in him) plays the adult supervisor.
See, Willard's Mr. S character is into music, old
timey Christian standards to be exact, and Scott,
called Wesley here, is a guitar whiz who can really
help his band.
Meanwhile, Willard's on-screen brother,
who just happens to be the Dean, tries to shut down
the halfway house because it interferes with his fat
farm next door. (If fat people are funny, then fat
people running is even funnier, right?)
Anyway, all of this seems like pretty
bland and tragically bad stuff until BOOM Lucas Black
enters the movie and suddenly, magically, things get
good. Black plays an autistic young man and every
time he is on screen, the film sparkles with energy.
This is not just a fantastic performance, its cinematic
CPR. Only an actor of Black's amazing talent could
lift this dreck to the level of acceptability. He's
not only cute, sweet, charming and likeable, he's
funny as hell. Black steals this movie. It is all
his.
Written and directed by Tricia Brock,
who adapted a Clyde Edgerton novel here, the film
is often trite, contrived and silly as can be. It
really has no reason to exist except for Black's amazing
performance and the inclusion of an amazing singer
named Niki J. Crawford. Music is very important here
(Taj Mahal makes a cameo) and Crawford does all her
own singing. She has an awesome voice. If you ever
get a chance to see this movie, make sure you go to
a theater where there is a great sound system. You'll
want to hear this film loud and clear. When the band
here is playing music (and some of the actors in the
film played their own instruments), this film soars.
You just have to get past some pretty
implausible stuff. The finale here takes place at
a Baptist college and when the band plays blues music,
the audience is dancing and whooping it up. The last
time that happened at a Baptist college, I believe
there were several pregnancies a few days later. Baptists?
Dancing? I don't think so. I know it's just a movie
but - let's get real here.
Notes:
Also with Ashley Johnson (Chrissie
from "Growing Pains," who is given absolutelty nothing
to do) and a small cameo by Mary Kay Place.
Some music by Keb' Mo'.
The license plate on the Half-way
House van reads 666 XES. (Get it?)
Filmed in Missouri.
There was a film called "Killer
Diller" released in 1948 which starred Butterfly McQueen.
Viewed at SXSW 2004 in March at
the Paramount theater with several cast and crew members
in attendance. Brock did a Q&A after the film and
brought up producers and cast members including William
Lee Scott and Niki J. Crawford. When someone asked
"Where's Lucas" (Black?), Brock told us he was in
Odessa shooting "Friday Night Lights." She was also
quite honest about how Black really didn't want to
do the film. Her honesty was refreshing even though
I could kinda see where Black was coming from. She
told us that it wasn't until Black met Scott that
she was sure he would sign on and that during the
closing party Black had given a heartfelt speech about
feeling like he was a part of a team working on the
film. She said he started by saying, "You all know
that I hate acting."
Black's mother and grandmother (called
Me-Maw) was in attendance and Brock acknowledged them.
She told us that Me- Maw's birthday was tomorrow.
At some point later in the Q&A an audience member
asked Crawford to sing a little and she sang "Happy
Birthday" to Me-Maw. Her voice was amazing and beautiful.
