In every state, there is a little Kevin Smith just salivating to tell his personal story. The odd jobs, the stranger than strange friendships, the quest to be something more than just a clerk, cashier, or other middle class Mc Job. All the mental tools needed to make a great “slacker type” movie sits in their own backyard. “Pervert Goes Home” is another in one of the many attempts that takes these recycled tools of the slacker genre and calls them their own. Sporadically amusing, the movie just a sampler platter of past lounger films long gone.
Arlo Jenkins is a college dropout looking to make it as the next American writer but due to the evil “slacker” gene inside his body, he never seems to follow through with his dream. Besides that, he’s a pervert, which of course leads him to many wacky adventures like accidentally spooging on his roommate after masturbating to the girl across the window. More of these perversions ultimately land the blame on him for date raping a girl, (which of course, is not true). With no hope in sight, he decides to drop out of college and head back to the creature comforts of his small town for writing inspiration. There, he finds the slacker life he once lived is no more. Friends are weirder, enemies are stranger, and perversions are fully exploited. This is just the motivation needed to be the great writer he thinks he is!
This is one of the many in a large pile of slacker films made during the past five to ten years. From Iowa to Oklahoma, these filmmakers are multiplying as fast as the pod people in “Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.” I see nothing wrong with it. I actually applaud it. It’s just when taking that leap into the filmmaking unknown, make sure you have something unique to offer the audience than the next struggling Kevin Smith does. “Pervert Goes Home” sputters back and forth with some funny gags (a friendly, but violent couple fight being one of them), but never really stays focused on moving the story forward.
You can see a truly honest passion by filmmaker Jay Bauman to make the best possible film with the limited tools he has available. It’s just that we’ve seen these characters before. The loser who wants to be a writer, the nerdy girl who loves him from afar, the friends turned freaks; these have now become frail staples of the independent film world.
Even though the filmmaker’s heart is in the right place, it’s best to think before you shoot.
