Following something bad happening involving a samurai sword, friends Rob and Michael are looking to get out of town and out of the country as fast as they can. Michael's panicking and the overheating car both work against them, but it is when Rob bumps into an old family friend and needs to be polite that things get more difficult.
Playing like a scene from a bigger film (like The Hangover) this little plot is quite funny and awkward in a darkly comic fashion. We don't know what the two men are fleeing from as it isn't really important because the key thing is that their getaway is about to get a lot harder. The social awkwardness of getting away from the old family friend is one thing, but the destination for the story gets darker quicker and, while quite deliberately shocking in its content, it is still pretty funny if you go with it. The conclusion may well be a punch line you saw coming, but still it is funny as it comes. The running time is about right for the material and it moves at a decent pace.
The film looks professional and visually is clean and well framed throughout while the performances are pretty good. I thought that Smith had the better material and deals well with the increasingly creepy turn from Mansell. Normington is playing a wilder character who isn't fully understood by the viewer so as a result he didn't work quite as well for me. It is a throwaway short film that will only amuse you and make you laugh with where it goes and how it gets there, but on this level it works.
Playing like a scene from a bigger film (like The Hangover) this little plot is quite funny and awkward in a darkly comic fashion. We don't know what the two men are fleeing from as it isn't really important because the key thing is that their getaway is about to get a lot harder. The social awkwardness of getting away from the old family friend is one thing, but the destination for the story gets darker quicker and, while quite deliberately shocking in its content, it is still pretty funny if you go with it. The conclusion may well be a punch line you saw coming, but still it is funny as it comes. The running time is about right for the material and it moves at a decent pace.
The film looks professional and visually is clean and well framed throughout while the performances are pretty good. I thought that Smith had the better material and deals well with the increasingly creepy turn from Mansell. Normington is playing a wilder character who isn't fully understood by the viewer so as a result he didn't work quite as well for me. It is a throwaway short film that will only amuse you and make you laugh with where it goes and how it gets there, but on this level it works.
