Review: Bums (C)

Bums (2004)
Directed by Brett Butler & Jason Butler
Starring Brett Butler, Jason Butler, Tessa Sproule, Tammy Gerus & Jeremiah McCann
MPAA: UR
Grade: C

Review by Scott Standish

The beauty of the independent film scene is that new talent is emerging everyday. The Butler brothers out of Canada are two young filmmakers that are cranking out feature films at a decent clip. Bums is a tempting feature that has lots of promise, but is brought down to earth by poor acting.

Bums tells the story of a group of six friends that live fairly slacker style lives. They smoke weed, drink a little beer, bitch about the opposite sex and basically just hang out. It's a character piece that centers around everyone's ideas on sex and relationships. The gals bitch about the guys and the guys act like jerks and wonder why the gals cheat on them. It reminds me a lot of my freshman year in college.

Bums has a strange look to it. It was obviously shot on video then put through some kind of filter to be black and white (although at times the color bleeds through - very strange indeed). Its a little distracting.

Bums is a film that shows the promise of two young directors. The Butler brothers obviously have the technical chops to make a decent film. However, the acting is so bad in Bums that it really never has a chance to pick up steam.