3, 2, 1 . . . Frankie Go Boom

Comments (0) By Nick Schager Wednesday, Oct 10 2012

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3, 2, 1 . . . Frankie Go Boom
Directed by Jordan Roberts
Variance Films
Opens October 12, Cinema Village

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Less inept than its worst-of-the-year title suggests, 3, 2, 1 . . . Frankie Go Boom nonetheless proves too ramshackle and aimless to ever achieve true absurdity. Already living in the desert to escape public shame over an embarrassing wedding video his brother Bruce (Chris O'Dowd) uploaded online, Frankie (Charlie Hunnam) again becomes an Internet sensation when aspiring director Bruce covertly films him struggling to perform in bed with Lassie (Lizzy Caplan). This sets in motion a chain of wannabe-wacky events that also involves movie star Jack (Chris Noth), a gun-loving psycho who's Bruce's drug-rehab friend and Lassie's dad. While he shoots his action with considerable skill, writer/director Jordan Roberts never properly establishes a clear narrative through-line, with his script haphazardly jumping between incidents with a cast of characters—including porn site administrators, Bruce's callous editor (Whitney Cummings), and Frankie and Bruce's parents (Nora Dunn and Sam Anderson)—who come off as cartoony without actually being funny. Still, Hunnam and O'Dowd's rapport is amusingly prickly, and though far too many bits (like one involving pig puke) are driven by strained craziness, the sight of Ron Perlman painting his toenails and speaking of his "lost phallus" as a post-op transsexual does inject the proceedings with a measure of original outrageousness. Nick Schager