Screenwriter Gabe Martinez makes his feature-length debut with the comedy He’s Dead & So Am I. Martinez co-directs alongside actor Gabe Casdorph, also making his feature-length debut here. They’ve wisely chosen a simple story that requires a small cast to tell. Does that mean the two Gabes deliver a fun little film?
When someone who was neither especially good nor bad dies, they become stuck in purgatory. That is how ghosts are made. These ghosts have rules they have to follow. Such is the fate of best friends Lance (Casdorph) and Sandy (Melanie Stone). They died in a Utah park 30 or so years ago and are now stuck there, caught between the two other realms. They are frustrated because no one can see them, nor can they interact/talk with the living.
“…this one good deed could be the thing to push them into Heaven.”
Annoyingly, Beelzebub’s errand boy, and pleasure toy, Bart (Alex Gunter), visits them often, trying to convince the two to join the demonic forces of Hell. But, when Lance learns that his human crush Daphne’s (Aubrey Reynolds) sister, has disappeared, he resolves to help her find Claire (Megan Golden). Lance convinces Sandy to help because this one good deed could be the thing to push them into Heaven. But they weren’t detectives when they were alive, and Daphne cannot see or hear them. So, how exactly are they going to help?
He’s Dead & So Am I works in several ways, but let’s get the negative out of the way first. The biggest issue is a “joke” near the end that does not work. The framing of the bit means Lance is pressuring a female into doing something out of gratitude and not desire. It’s a bad look for a variety of reasons, most of all because it just isn’t that humorous. Then there’s the whole human side of the story. Now and then, the film breaks away from the leads to follow Daphne’s everyday life. This is necessary to introduce all the potential suspects. It also kills the mystery because as soon as the guilty person appears on screen, it is immediately apparent they had some hand in Claire’s disappearance. The ultimate why behind Claire being taken by someone is also a letdown.
However, the film is not really about Daphne or finding the missing Claire. It is about Lance and Sandy’s ghostly existence and how they while away the hours. In this regard, a beat is never missed. Sadsack Lance is introduced talking ad nauseam to Daphne, and the reveal that she cannot see or hear him makes his one-sided conversation funny and heartbreaking. Sandy’s first scene is her signing about how disgusting ballsacks are, but she wants to see them anyway. She’s singing her heart out and suddenly falls off a short cliff face. Sandy then keeps singing. Audience members will either instantly love her or be irritated beyond belief. If in the latter category, shut the comedy off then and there, there are a lot of bits like this. I was doubled over from laughing so hard.
"…Stone turns in some of the best acting of the year."
