This little mockumentary we have here is named John Bronco after its protagonist. A very fitting choice because it is all about him from beginning to end. The cast list may be slightly confusing because lead actor Walton Goggins who plays the title character is only eleventh credit, but maybe that is also a bit of a mystery just like the character is a bit of a mystery. In any case, Golden Globe nominated actor Dennis Quaid, who is first credit, is onlly the narrator here, but the perhaps biggest name attached to this project. However, Goggins is also pretty famous obviously and not only to those who watched Justified anymore I'm sure, mostly because of his work with Tarantino. And this short film we got here is finally all about him. Or about his character I should say. This runs for under 40 minutes, but over 35 and that already includes credits, so definitely not a long watch by any means. The director is the highly prolific Jake Szymanski and he has worked on similar mockumentaries in the past before and of course he is also somewhat known for his many, many Funny or Die contributions. I am not sure I find most of these particularly funny, but this one here I liked. Just as much as his take on cycling and doping from almost half a decade earlier. But it should not be taken for granted that this one here was a quality watch because writer Marc Gilbar is the exact opposite of experienced. He has been a producer on some projects, but not too many either, and this film here is his first writing credit.
Luckily, competence and experience prevail though and this turned out nicely entertaining. It's not just Goggins who really delivers here, but also all the supporting cast members, who turn pretty good lines into something even better most of the time. It's the small awkwardness where the film delivers, like almost every time an interview sequence ends, but also the laugh-out-loud moments. There I am for example talking about the connection between experienced Hollywooyd actors (Brad Pitt and others) and simple men with simple professions. You will know what I mean when you see it. Or also how Paul Rudd, Macaulay Culkin and one more are referenced when it comes to their eternally young face. Also the fun mystery moments like the exact way Bronco vanished back in the day and how they made fun of it being the very obvious explanation later on as they randomly find him in Finland.
The funniest moment for me was when basically a murderous Bo Derek was introduced. And the one who mentions her the first time was not Bronco himself, but it was the person we see as Bronco's big love. Well, appearances can be deceiving as we find out at the very end then. That was so funny too with how the truth came out that she was a serious stalker and also what was behind these photos that seemed to be from the day of their wedding. You can surely say that Bronco did not get too lucky with the women, not only because of what Bo did to his face, but also how she does not want to see him in the end. There are many other good moments, like how Bronco kisses the new prototype and we see the sand on his face later on. How he cannot deal with frisbees, how there are random references about butter. How Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once again proves that his comedic timing is not considerably worse than his timing on the basketball court. And so on. In short, this is a film that is very much worth watching. A truly fun little parody that I would call good at this point, but that is surely closer to greatness than to weakness. There was not one second during which I hesitated if I should give this one a thumbs-up. Go see it. Also a nice little (okay, not so little) commercial for Ford you could say. I wonder if they put any money in here and if so, then how much it was. But this is not meant as a negative criticism. Not at all. If the outcome is so nice, then I am all for product placement to properly pay the artists who came up with the entire thing. Thumbs-up. Go watch.
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