'Film Geek'

As a veteran of tours of duty at two different video stores, I've seen plenty of people with unhealthy cinematic obsessions. But in all my years I never witnessed anyone as pathetic, uncomfortable, and downright repellent as the titular focus of James Westby's Film Geek. Fired from his treasured position at a video store, the uncommonly icky Scotty (Melik Malkasian) awkwardly pursues an art chick who finds his persistent stalking "stupidly cute." Malkasian debases himself with gusto, but the film offers no new insights into a character type we've seen Kevin Smith do far more cleverly on numerous occasions. Westby never provides a reason you should pay to spend 70 minutes with Scotty, but he offers at least a dozen compelling ones not to. Just because lonely nerds masturbate constantly doesn't mean I need to see them do it over and over again. And while it's true that video clerks tend to look down their noses at customers' so-called bad taste, just about anything they might select would provide a less painful viewing experience than this.