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Reviews
Totally Awesome (2006)
Bound for Glory
I'm making the bold prediction that this movie will, in time, become a cult classic for those who "get it" much like Office Space. Many reviewers, professional and not, dismiss this movie out of hand, again like Office Space. They clearly don't fall into the "getting it" crowd. Those who enjoy twisted reference and a plethora of quotable lines will fall hard for this picture. I can't stress enough that you and whoever you watch this movie with will be trading lines via text messaging within minutes of the credits rolling. This is a tribute to primary writer Neal Brennan's (Chappelle's Show, Half Baked) script. Brennan does a great job crafting a very clever homage (not entirely a spoof) to 80's flicks. Centering around the Gunderson family that moves from Pittsburgh to California, Totally Awesome finds siblings Charlie (Mikey Day) and his sister Lori (Dominque Swain) trying to adapt to their new surroundings. The family is rounded out by genius younger brother Max (Trevor Heins) and optimistically clueless parents (Greg Kean and Teryl Rothery). Immediately things go wrong for Charlie and Lori as their worlds are turned upside down. As the new kid, Charlie finds himself dead last in the school coolness rankings and dance aficionado Lori can't practice her trade due to some dubious local legislation. What sets Totally Awesome apart from other 80's referencing films, such as Not Another Teen Movie, is that the main characters and many of the surrounding cast are composites rather than direct references to characters from classic 80's movies. Standouts include Joey Kern as smirking king of the High School, Kipp Vanderhoff and Tracey Morgan in a role that relied heavily on his ad-libbing abilities. Chris Kattan does a respectable job as the smarmy 35 year old school janitor Gabriel, as does Lucie Guest as his scorned girlfriend Deb. Granted, Guest's performance is facial expression heavy, but the casting was perfect! A refreshing change to this film is the lack of gross-out humor (perhaps we are spared this due to its production for television) that seems to the status quo for movies that fall into this genre (think Wayans).The soundtrack is expectedly laden with 80's classics, however the score is part of the fun here. The music for the dance numbers and the emotional synth filling the background of Billie and Charlie scenes perfectly set the mood. Occasionally the film does fall flat particularly it's thankfully brief and over the top Teen Wolf references, however its positives more than outweigh these scenes.