Just as the No Use for a Name song on the soundtrack suggests, Selwyn’s got a problem. Actually, he has a few of them. For one, he is what you would call an “exotic baker” which is exactly what the name suggests: a preparer of baked goods that resemble vaginas, breasts, and even penises. Selwyn (Warren Fitzgerald) went to Cake Tech on a full scholarship and certainly no alumni from Cake Tech deserve such a job.
Another of his problems is his girlfriend. She is manipulative and demanding, demeaning and violent. All Selwyn wants is someone that doesn’t punch him in the face or drop book shelves on his stomach while he is reading: a simple request for a simple man.
After a dispute that ends in a cut up face for poor Selwyn, he hits the road with his neighbor and becomes a roadie for the infamous punk rock quartet, No Use for a Name. The band treats like a fraternity giving their frat members an unforgettable hazing adventure. Not being able to stand it, Selwyn escapes and makes his way to a roadside diner where he is offered a baking job from the owner Nathan (Tenacious D’s Kyle Gass). He also finds a new wheelchair-bound girlfriend that is the complete opposite of his previous love in every single way.
Punk rock fans are definitely the audience the film is catering to. No Use for a Name fans are treated with a multiple song live set, while the rest of us patiently wait for the story to progress further. “Cake Boy” was written by Warren Fitzgerald and directed by Joe Escalante, both of whom are members of The Vandals. Instead of going the route that is now becoming the norm of independent filmmaking these days (shooting digital), Escalante chose to shoot “Cake Boy” with 16mm and 35mm film. Sadly, he didn’t utilize this resource to its fullest capacity thus making it virtually impossible to set it apart from something shot digital.
Familiar faces are sprawled all throughout the film by the likes of Fat Mike, Patten Oswalt, Paul Goebel (yeah!), and Pam Gidley. Even with all that, this film may even steer away its target audience because unfortunately, “Cake Boy” offers nothing deep or original, unless you’ve never seen a film with an infinite supply of dick jokes. If that’s the case, just go rent “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” That movie isn’t very good either but it does cause laughter here and there.
