Fox Searchlight Pictures Review in a Hurry: An odd attempt at satirizing the world of pulp sci-fi writers. This confused tale of a boy with a promising manuscript, the girl who tries to make a low-budget movie out of it, and the successful author who rips them off contains moments of mirth, but poor plotting and juvenile gross-out humor keep it from ever taking off.
The Bigger Picture: Hate to say this, because Napoleon Dynamite was easily the most entertaining movie of 2004, but it's looking more and more like director-cowriter Jared Hess is just a one-hit wonder. As much of a step down as Nacho Libre seemed for him and wife Jerusha, Gentleman Broncos sinks even lower, laden with vomit, turd, and genitalia jokes that feel like they were written by a ten-year-old who just heard the word "nads" for the first time.
Initially, this even plays like Mad Libs: Napoleon Dynamite edition. Similar opening credits, except with fake sci-fi novels instead of foodstuffs. Beginning scene on a schoolbus. Skinny, effeminate Latino sidekick with a really bad hairdo (Pedro was a great character five years ago, but the retreads in each subsequent film have steadily become more racially insensitive). Girl who takes an interest in our dorky hero for zero good reason. Grandstanding, dubious older "mentor" who longs to return to his past glories.
Michael Angarano is our put-upon protagonist Benjamin, a sheltered, home-schooled teen who has a manuscript entitled Yeast Lords, which involves a hero named Bronco (Sam Rockwell) based upon his dead father, and a confusing plot involving castration, cyclopses, and deer who shoot missiles.
At a writing camp, he encounters his idol, Ronald Chevalier (Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement, who perhaps-not-coincidentally also starred in the New Zealand Napoleon Dynamite knockoff Eagle vs. Shark). Chevalier, a pompous New Agey type with a Bluetooth permanently affixed to his ear—though it's a running gag that he always takes his calls on other phones—announces a contest to publish the best manuscript submitted by a student.
What nobody knows is that Chevalier is actually about to be dropped by his publisher, so he needs a good idea fast, and figures he can just rewrite Yeast Lords a little bit and no one will be the wiser. Meanwhile, hyperactive fellow student Tabitha (Halley Feiffer) and her aforementioned stereotype sidekick Lonnie (Hector Jimenez) offer Benjamin a check for $500 for the rights to shoot an ultra-cheap movie based on the manuscript...on VHS.
Interspersed amongst this narrative, we get scenes from all three versions of the tale: Benjamin's original, with Bronco as substitute father; Chevalier's rewrite, with newly renamed and now flamingly fey hero Brutus (also played by Rockwell); and Lonnie's movie version, with Lonnie in drag as the female lead and a pale-skinned snake-handler named Dusty (Mike White) as Bronco.
Here's the problem:
None of these versions is anything but a complete, incoherent mess. It's impossible to invest in any of these characters as artists, because judging by what we see, none of them has a single iota of talent. Battlefield Earth—the book and the movie—is a masterpiece compared to Yeast Lords, which once again seems penned by a pre-teen who just found out what a yeast infection is. Chevalier is a great character, but he'd be better in short comedy skits than a feature.
The 180—a Second Opinion: One thing Hess is still good at is picking the perfect song for certain scenes, like "The Promise" in Napoleon Dynamite and "Real Religious Man" in Nacho Libre. One or two moments here are similarly inspired. And if you find yourself liking the movie, be sure to sit through all the end credits for an extra scene.
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