bob the moo Review of Bedhead

Bedhead (1991)

Amusing but mostly interesting for Rodriguez's use of hyper style and a charismatic turn from his daughter

[18 July 2007]

It was a typical Saturday morning. Rebecca is easting breakfast with her little sister (as ever done up in high fashion). The arrival of her noisy and aggressive brother at the table ruins the peace of quiet as, on top of having the worst bed-head in the world, he is also a typical pain in Rebecca's life. Later in the day, the bullying and annoyance continues, with Rebecca falling to the ground and knocking herself out cold. She comes to quickly but instantly she finds that the knock has given her powers that she could either use wisely for the benefit of mankind, or to take revenge on her brother. What a choice… A curio piece that I found from early in the career of Robert Rodriguez, using his own family as his cast and his own home as his set. The plot is simple and the idea is that it sets up lots of physical comedy as Rebecca's powers come into play. Unfortunately the limitations of the film prevent it being hilarious because the material is not that inspired; if it weren't for the presence of Rodriguez then it would probably not be worth seeing. As it is, it is interesting to see the way that Rodriguez's hyper style was there from the start. Here it needs refining but it is there none the less.

The main positive factor in the film is from Rebecca herself. She is cute and charming, with great charisma and she does drive the film forward by her personality. David has less of a character and is not as good because of his role within the film. Overall though, it is quite an amusing short film but it is not as strong as many have said and does benefit from the curiosity value of being an early short film demonstrating the distinctive hyper/cartoon style of Rodriguez.