There is a very thin line between sincerity and parody. “Tweek City” zig zags across that line for the majority of its run time. It could easily be mistaken as a sketch comedy show mockery of a drug film if it didn’t take itself so seriously.
“Tweek City” is a slice of life look at a speed freak and part time dealer named Bill as he tries to make some money, has some treacherous affairs, pines for his old girlfriend, or more often than not just walks around looking depressed.
One of the main problems with the movie is that its central character is just horribly uninteresting and, even worse, annoying. We are meant to feel sorry for this guy but never really given a reason to. He didn’t have the best childhood but its nothing that millions of other people haven’t experienced, and he is still hung up about a girl that dumped him in high school which is, well, pathetic. Since his motives are so underwhelming his actions don’t seem genuine. It is just hard to believe that a guy would be in his situation and resort to the things he does because his daddy left him as a baby and his girlfriend broke up with him years ago.
Giuseppe Andrews, who you might remember from “Detroit Rock City” or the more recent “Cabin Fever”, is the star of the show here and he almost puts on a good performance. You get the feeling that he could be remarkably effective in this kind of role if he had the script to back him up. As it is though, he just comes off as whiny. Also, his tendency to put the word “man” after every sentence becomes a bit grating.
Visually the movie is very hit and miss. For its first half the movie falls into a pattern of showing an isolated scene which is generally shot pretty poorly and then having a short but stylish interlude before awkwardly transitioning back to another isolated scene. During the second half, however, the movie begins to flow much better visually and the overall quality of shots improves a great deal. Even so, this is certainly not a stunning film to look at.
In the end, what we have is a movie where there is really nothing to keep us watching. Why would you want to watch some loser moping around, getting high, and whining about his girlfriend? How are we supposed to care for a person when we are not shown one likable thing about him?
Well, as Bill says in the movie when considering whether or not he would accept a b*****b from a man, if you close your eyes a b*****b is a b*****b. So maybe you could just close your eyes and pretend you’re watching a good movie.
