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Thursday, February 15, 2018

Three-Star Thursday: Killing Gunther (2017)

Welcome to three-star Thursday where I find the underrated gems amongst the most average of ratings. I never pick a movie by the viewer rating. I look at the cast and the director and choose names I trust. That's not to say I never watch anything by knowns, but I still go off instinct and the movie trailer rather than reviews. Why you ask? If you actually read most of reviews....well, some actually review the movie but others go off on all sorts of weird tangents. Pointing out plot holes and character inconsistencies, wonderful, that's useful info! Reviewing the quality of the font used for the credits or stating that the lead actors chin dimple is distracting, what?

My first buried treasure is Killing Gunther (2017), written and directed by Taran Killam. It is a smart, hilarious, and fast paced dark comedy. Think every Bond villan stereotype uniting to take out Keyser Soze, all filmed documentary style.

The writing is sharp, the chacterization and acting is on point, the plot is well thought out, replete with hook, crises, climax, and denoument. Not to mention it is laugh-out-loud hilarious. I would give it 4.5 stars.

Why only 4.5? One little thing was missing, but it's a bit of a spoiler so if you don't want to find out too much about the movie, stop reading here.

Okay, so Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the cover, he's all over the trailer, hell, he has first billing, but this I suspect has more to do with the skill of his agent and the fact that he has agreed to do an indie movie with actors who, shall we say, do not run in the same circles the former governor does. Fact of the matter is, he doesn't come into the movie until the last twenty minutes. Still, he's definitely worth the wait. He shows that his comedic talents are still alive and kicking. He holds his own with a cast chock-a-block with the up and coming, hipster comedic actors of this generation.

The point is, if you are looking for a dark comedy to provide solid humor throughout the entire film, Killing Gunther is for you.

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