Ham & Cheese (2004)
6/10
DEFINATELY has its moments...
3 February 2004
Well, walking into this film at the Victoria Film Festival (one of four films that I got to see) I was expecting something along the lines of a "serious" comedy, versus a slapstick - - - > which is what it inevitably turned out to be.

But not to be taken the wrong way; I actually PREFER slapsticks. BUT, i ALSO figured that this film would be something along the lines of a drama that would be done like any other film, versus a mocumentary.

Immediately when the film began and I discovered it to be a mocumentary, I began comparing it to FUBAR - - - > which stands to be not only the best mocumentary ever made, but the funniest movie I've ever seen. Unfortunately, Ham and Cheese didn't quite reach the great status of FUBAR.....at FIRST anyways.

The bad thing about this mocumentary was the fact that you KNEW it wasn't real at all because the camera work consisted of constantly changing angles and shots that would be impossible to do with any documentary, and the characters only talked to the camera when they were seated and prepared.

Another bad thing about this film was the fact that none of it was improvised (i know this because the director told me so), and its the improvisation that gives mocumentaries their comic-real-life ZING. Films like "A mighty wind" and FUBAR were insanely hilarious because of the realism that was brought into the slapstick, making you nearly wet yourself at the comic genious of it all.

But don't get me wrong, their were DEFINATELY scenes that nearly made me wet myself - - - > scenes that I laughed even harder at by the time i left the theatre.

The actors carried their roles seemlessly from the opening bad-singing sequence to the naked runaway scene. And some of the completely ridiculous stupid lines that were blurted out like, "I dug up the ground, and i F***ED IT!!!" made me fall out of my seat in incredibly loud laughter (you have to watch the entire film to understand that part). But the fact that they TRIED to make it look proffessional was what took away the REALISM that makes mocumentaries so funny.

When the movie finished, I listened to the director and main actor talk about the movie, and I realised the time and budget that they had to deal with the making of the film, which made me realise that all that stuff I was thinking was a little harsh. What they also said was that later on you will probably laugh more when you look back at the scenes of the movie - - - > which is what happened with me. Throughout the entire next day I couldnt help but laugh at all the stupid scenes, and even the ones that I didnt laugh at before made me laugh later on just because it was so STUPID!

At the ending i COULD have bought the DVD and got it signed and then talked to the director and actor, but my grudge that I had about it not being as funny as FUBAR at the time prevented me from doing any of that. Now I look back and highly regret not doing so, because I realise now that it was funny, and probably JUST as funny as FUBAR was.

Oh well, I guess now that if others see the film and enjoy it, i can at LEAST say, "Well guess what, i saw the PREMIERE!". ....to bad no signed DVD for me.....

i give it a 7.8/10
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