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Saturday, May 5, 2018

David and Hazel: A Story in Communication (Rifftrax Shorts)


Rifftrax Year:  2012
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin, Murphy, Bill Corbett

This half hour educational film is the story of David, who is possibly in danger of losing his job at the office.  Instead of relaying his worries and their potential financial woes to his wife Hazel he chooses to keep it from her and give short outbursts at her and the children when money is brought up.  As his temper gets shorter, so does hers, and the family environment becomes harsher.

I'm presuming this film was used for couples therapy in hopes people might identify with the problems on display and strive to fix them.  Given that ambition, the film is fine.  It's poorly acted and melodramatic, but it's hard to fault it for being an amateur production made in hopes to help others for the better.

That doesn't mean the thing can't be riffed.  There are a lot of things to target in this film, given the generally dumb decisions the characters act out on as well as the general angry tone of the piece, prompting our riffers to improvise angry outbursts inspired by those seen in the film.  My favorite riffs however come at the expense of the son, who is just...horrible.  This kid provides some of the worst acting I've ever seen, slinking onscreen and mumbling his lines as if he doesn't quite know where he is.

But given the full half hour of the short, sometimes it can become a bit too much of the same jokes, including more than its fair share of jokes of marriage problems stemming from erectile dysfunction (which start out funny, but overstay their welcome).  David and Hazel can be a bit lackluster in patches, though the strong moments add up to a fairly amusing whole.

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