The FP

Comments (0) By Eric Hynes Wednesday, Mar 14 2012

Details

The FP
Directed by Brandon and Jason Trost
Drafthouse Films
Opens March 16

More About

Infinitely better as a beer-goggled pitch than as a feature film, The FP never gets beyond the studied novelty of its own pose. The Trost brothers' low-rent passion project is a postmodern amalgam of '80s vigilante thrillers, Hollywood teen turf-war pics, sports underdog flicks, and the teeny-bop arcade game Dance Dance Revolution. Jason Trost stars as JTRO, a noble loner with a blond rocker bouffant and Kurt Russell eye patch who seeks revenge and redemption after his brother is slain during a "Beat-Beat Revelation" duel with thuggish, gold-teethed L Dubba E (Lee Valmassy). JTRO heroically dances to save the besieged town of FP (short for Frazier Park, California), win the girl, and justify the knee-high moon boots he wears into battle. As the proud spawn of B-movie special-effects pro Ron Trost (Mortal Kombat), the directors put lots of love and nerdy exactitude in the fine grain of The FP, from hot fonts and an Atari-worthy soundtrack to a training montage with a gnomic, soul-patched surrogate for Mr. Miyagi, and a fastidiously concocted slang comprised of hip-hop, valley girl and Jean-Claude Van Damme. But with only style and referents up its sleeve, the film's charm fades fast. The problem with paying such dogged homage to shitty movies is that integrity is best achieved by producing a shitty movie in turn. Mission accomplished, for whatever that's worth.