My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005)

23% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
40% of users liked it
(4,614 ratings)

All those movies the snotty clerk at the video store keeps telling you to rent get raked over the coals in this over-the-top satiric comedy. Harvey (Eric Hoffman) and Sam (Neil Barton) are a pair of identically black-suited hitmen who have been assigned to take part in a conceptually disastrous… More All those movies the snotty clerk at the video store keeps telling you to rent get raked over the coals in this over-the-top satiric comedy. Harvey (Eric Hoffman) and Sam (Neil Barton) are a pair of identically black-suited hitmen who have been assigned to take part in a conceptually disastrous robbery in Las Vegas. Harvey and Sam are supposed to pick the other members of their crew en route; however, by accident they end up with Johnny Vince (Darren Keefe), a would-be jazz musician with chronic woman problems, and try to compensate by taking a hostage, Julianne (Paget Brewster), a discount store drone who tells all within earshot about her a lousy marriage and dreams of a better life. As Harvey, Sam, and their unwilling companions hit the road to Sin City, they cross paths with an aggressively cheerful French girl named Anomalie (Ashley Head), a possible murderer with a really bad memory (Brian Krow), a German redhead who's always running somewhere (Regina Berger), a Mexican gunman with a guitar case and a poor command of English (Manolo Travieso), and an awful lot of sensitive and articulate lesbians. My Big Fat Independent Movie was scripted by Chris Gore, who helped document the rise of the independent movement in the 1980s and '90s as founder of the magazine Film Threat (feel free to read as much irony into that as you wish). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 20 min.
Directed By: Philip Zlotorynski
Written By: Chris Gore, Adam Schwartz
Genres: Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Sep 30, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Jan 24, 2006
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
This low-budget effort lacks the wit necessary to sustain its brief 80-minute running time.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
My Big Fat Independent Movie is a frenetic attempt to spoof every major art-house film of the last decade.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
This painfully unfunny spoof promises to do for independent movies what Airplane! did for disaster movies, but mostly what My Big Fat Independent Movie does is demonstrate the ineptitude of its makers.
Ben Kenigsberg, Village Voice
It's a sour, petty act of mockery that values its own ineptitude over genuine cleverness, travestying Quentin Tarantino and others simply for dreaming up gimmicks that worked.
Tom Long, Detroit News
If you've seen all the above films, this will all sound just as silly as it is. If you haven't, it will just sound cuckoo.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
Not every joke connects, but Gore and director Philip Zlotorynski make sure that five more are waiting around the corner.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...unrelentingly amateurish...
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The juvenile gags seem aimed at moviegoers who hate the whole idea of independent/art/foreign-language films and the stuck-up eggheads who like them -- so what's the point?
Phil Hall, Film Threat
Hilarious parody of contemporary indie cinema.
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
Clever at times, hilarious on occasion, but doesn't quite make it into the spoof hall of fame.
Steve Schneider, Orlando Weekly
Every time the movie seems about to drown in its own blatancy and semicompetence, Gore and company come up with a winning gambit.
Oz, eFilmCritic.com
Too many corners cut, not enough quality control, and a screenplay that simply wasn't ready for camera.