Secret Mailman Returns

After Bradley Kopenhagen’s (Benjamin Ironside Koppin) passionate pitch to a film contest fails to secure him funding for his movie, he calls upon friends and family to help him realize his vision. Secret Mailman Returns (Directed by Benjamin Ironside Koppin) is a documentary chronicling Koppin’s mission to honor his late older brother Mark’s memory (Matthew Koppin) by completing the third in a trilogy of “Secret Mailman” films they made when they were kids, the aforementioned, Secret Mailman Returns.

While Koppin looks back fondly on those home movies, their younger sister Heather (Hal Batterman) has held animosity over the years after being excluded from the fun by the boys due to her being a girl; young boys will be boys, after all. At first, Batterman rejects helping Koppin, believing she won’t be given a chance to truly contribute to the film in a creative way. But after a kind gesture by Koppin proves to Batterman that she’ll play an integral part, she comes around and joins her brother with a newfound dedication to help.

Kevin (Kyle Vonderen), Koppin’s eccentric childhood friend and third member of the brother and sister’s improv group joins the cast. Vonderen’s inclusion is followed by Koppin’s father, father in-law, and a Craigslist actor (J.J. Carroll) to play a carrot zombie…yes, you read that correctly. Each actor brings his own unique quirks to the film, treating their un-serious roles in a very serious fashion.

“…documentary chronicling Koppin’s mission to honor his late older brother…”

While the cast’s personalities are overflowing with whimsy, at least from their perspectives, the constant goofiness and ironic humor is often misplaced and distracting. Many of their performances within the documentary, namely those of our main trio, Koppin, Batterman, and Vonderen, come off as staged rather than authentic. Worse, the humor is constantly cringe-inducing than it is charming.

The best moments of Secret Mailman Returns are the quiet ones with Koppin reflecting on his memory of Matthew, but these instances are few and far between. We don’t learn much about Matthew or how he affected his family in any insightful way.

I have no doubt Secret Mailman Returns, both film and doc alike, was made with genuine care, but opportunities to see Koppin and others reflect on Matthew’s life and reaffirm their dedication to bringing the film to completion are lost in the loud, eye-roll-inducing humor. Hammy portrayals and misguided comedy falls flat in this documentary which is all the
more disappointing when there is a true familial story inside this film that could have been explored to make all the wackiness worth it.