Wilbur (Michael J. Sielaff) has just received a package from Al Queda and, unable to mail it back, decides instead to open it. Inside is a remote control with the majestic power to make people or animals burp and fart at the press of a button. And where Wilbur is concerned, with great power comes… the need to get revenge on those who have wronged him, from a college professor to a former best friend to even the entire city of Los Angeles.
Adam Kargman’s short film Loud and Deep has reminded me that, no matter how mature I think I am, I will still giggle like a little kid over a well-placed burp or fart. And this film is full of them, so much so that you’d think I’d be desensitized to all of it by the end but, when the film’s final act rolls around, I was still amused. Irrationally so.
And while the film is a repetitious mix of burps and farts, it’s also amusing for other reasons. Wilbur’s motivations for revenge are humorous in themselves, and the finale winds up hitting all the right spoof notes when it comes to action flicks. Sure, the CGI looks like the same level of effects you might find in an iPhone app (layered cartoonishly on top of the image), but since the rest of the film is so ridiculous, you’d expect nothing less.
If I have a quibble with the film, it’s that it doesn’t really need to be as long as it is. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t need to be sixteen minutes long. Bring this in around ten minutes, and it’s golden. At this length, it’s almost like too much of a good thing.
I say “almost,” because I still really enjoyed its absurdity and lowbrow humor. The film does play like a live-action cartoon, and if you accept it as such, it works on practically every level. If you like your shorts goofy (and rubberfaced actor Michael J. Sielaff sells on the goof factor just by smiling), and don’t mind your humor as childish as they come, Loud and Deep is the short film for you.
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