Five Time Champion (2012)

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A young man struggles to make sense of life and love as confusion reigns in his family in this quirky independent comedy from filmmaker Berndt Mader. Julius (Ryan Akin) is a high school student who is obsessed with his science experiments involving worm reproduction. Julius may well be fascinated… More A young man struggles to make sense of life and love as confusion reigns in his family in this quirky independent comedy from filmmaker Berndt Mader. Julius (Ryan Akin) is a high school student who is obsessed with his science experiments involving worm reproduction. Julius may well be fascinated with worm sexuality since many of the signals he gets about human interaction are rather puzzling. His father abandoned the family and is said to be gay, and his mother (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), who dabbles in taxidermy, has two boyfriends -- one a cheerful slacker (Justin Arnold), the other the gung-ho baseball coach at Julius's school (Jon Gries). Julius has a girlfriend (Noell Coet), but while she wants to move the relationship to a more physical level, he's wary. And Julius's grandfather (Don Pirl) is spending a lot of time with one of his ex-girlfriends (Juli Erickson), much to the annoyance of his wife (Betty Buckley). Will Julius figure out what he wants from life, and who he should spend it with? Five Times Champion received its world premiere at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi