Writer/director Peter Gilabert’s Get All You Can is an extremely low-budget production, costing an estimated to be $3,800. It shows. From the handheld shaky cam to the mostly shot in an apartment location, it gives proof that anyone can make a film. But can anyone make a good movie? That’s a different story.
The plot of this comedy sounds like fun: two young millennial bank robbers, Shelby (Jill Galbraith) and Tyler (Jamie Penry), accidentally tunnel into a retirement basement lounge for old rock stars. However, instead of being a comedy as advertised, it’s more like a bad family Thanksgiving. For almost the entirety of the runtime, all of the characters are constantly yelling and swearing at each other. I’m not sure about you, but that does not qualify as fun entertainment to me. Maybe if the dialogue had actually been witty or humorous, it could’ve worked, but it is mostly focused on people complaining about different lifestyles (punk rockers versus hippies, for example) or musical tastes.
Get All You Can would’ve worked better as a short. It feels like a one-act stage play that’s been stretched out to be longer than it should. There’s not enough variety or interesting developments to sustain it for a full feature. Though there is one major development that is interesting, and that’s when disaster strikes in the first act.
“…two young millennial bank robbers…accidentally tunnel into a retirement basement lounge for old rock stars.”
Was it an earthquake, bomb, or did the building collapse? The characters are not sure, so they’re too scared to try to venture outside. It’s a convenient way to keep all of the characters in one place, but it also advances the narrative later on when they become desperate for food and water. My problem with this is that it’s not very logical because when the situation becomes dire, why not take your chances by going outdoors? There are a couple of flimsy excuses for this, but nothing really holds up.
I mentioned that Get All You Can feels like watching a play, and the actors ham it up as if you’re watching a small theater production. An actor by the name of J.A.W. is the biggest offender as one of the old punk rockers, a real Johnny Rotten type. There is a certain joy in watching this type of acting, as anyone who watched Jim Carrey in the 1990s can attest to. Galbraith, the female bank robber, James Hazley as a h***y former jazz musician, and Sandra Cruze, as a Deborah Harry type named Nellie, all do a fine job despite the issues that I’ve outlined.
All of the characters have a dark, vile secret that comes out during the course of the plot, and there isn’t much to distinguish them from one another. Well, besides their musical label. The punk rocker doesn’t even believe in anarchy or other punk values. It’s little things like that which take away from the authenticity of it all, besides the over-the-top acting and constant yelling. If the script for Get All You Can would’ve been hashed out a little more, I think I would’ve enjoyed these characters more than I did.
"…there is a certain joy in watching this type of acting."
