This film petered off about 30 minutes into it. That isn't the worst thing about the movie. That would have to be the Director of the movie. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
This film begins like most documentaries, by giving some context. We are given a short history of Viral Videos and a little info about the Director's experience's watching the Winnebago Man in his youth. This was all very interesting and put together in a not glorious, but sustainable fashion. The Director spends some time looking into how to get in touch with the Winnebago Man, and is unsuccessful at first. We do get to meet the crew which was around during the shoot, which is probably the best part of the movie. Later we see the Winnebago Man and he gives a dishonest view of his opinion of his fame.
Its at this point the film heads south. We are treated to another hour of psycho babble (and drama) about the Winnebago Man by the Director. The worst part is the way it is so transparent the Director is trying to use his subject to help out the film instead of trying to document the Winnebago Man as he is. Its kind of funny that he mentions that he taught a class in Austin (which would explain the lack of good films from there).
The climax of the film is the Winnebago Man speaking at some "hip" SF show, which shows viral videos. I'm guessing nobody told any of these hipsters about Youtube, as they watch reruns from "America's Funniest Home Videos." At this point the Winnebago Man and his gay counterpart (a character I willfully forgot to mention), go and get some wine from some chic bar and the film shortly ends afterward.
This film isn't terrible, its just not very good. The way the Director forces himself into scenes and acts dishonestly towards the audience leaves one with a sense of discomfort. It would have helped if the Director looked at more accomplished film makers like Werner Herzog and tried to make the film in that same vein. Instead we are treated with 90 minutes which gives little more satisfaction than watching a 1 minute viral video.
This film begins like most documentaries, by giving some context. We are given a short history of Viral Videos and a little info about the Director's experience's watching the Winnebago Man in his youth. This was all very interesting and put together in a not glorious, but sustainable fashion. The Director spends some time looking into how to get in touch with the Winnebago Man, and is unsuccessful at first. We do get to meet the crew which was around during the shoot, which is probably the best part of the movie. Later we see the Winnebago Man and he gives a dishonest view of his opinion of his fame.
Its at this point the film heads south. We are treated to another hour of psycho babble (and drama) about the Winnebago Man by the Director. The worst part is the way it is so transparent the Director is trying to use his subject to help out the film instead of trying to document the Winnebago Man as he is. Its kind of funny that he mentions that he taught a class in Austin (which would explain the lack of good films from there).
The climax of the film is the Winnebago Man speaking at some "hip" SF show, which shows viral videos. I'm guessing nobody told any of these hipsters about Youtube, as they watch reruns from "America's Funniest Home Videos." At this point the Winnebago Man and his gay counterpart (a character I willfully forgot to mention), go and get some wine from some chic bar and the film shortly ends afterward.
This film isn't terrible, its just not very good. The way the Director forces himself into scenes and acts dishonestly towards the audience leaves one with a sense of discomfort. It would have helped if the Director looked at more accomplished film makers like Werner Herzog and tried to make the film in that same vein. Instead we are treated with 90 minutes which gives little more satisfaction than watching a 1 minute viral video.