This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Mounting the step stool to success
Plot Overview
Steefen “Steef” Barn (Gavin Warren) is
experiencing teenage angst. His dad's in prison, his mom
ignores him, and his classmates taunt him—the teacher is
in on it. He impulsively drops out of school only to get run over
in the street. His one sympathetic visitor in the hospital is
Markie Montgomery (David Spade) a witness to the accident.
Markie brings Steef on
with him in his dad's septic tank business (“We suck.”)
After sixteen years of application, the two have become fast
friends, and Markie has saved up enough to buy a minuscule diamond
ring for his slutty girlfriend Pam (Charlotte McKinney.) The
restaurant he takes her to is too crowded for him to propose, and
he offers to take her to the Magic Cacti tourist trap, which she
ain't interested in. Instead, a smarmy waiter steals her away.
Now Markie
sets his sights on the high status job of waiter. For an interim
step they apply to be busboys in the desert slum Open Border Bistro
where after hard work and a lot of time they may get promoted to
it. It's taking too long. They consider shortcuts: giving blow
jobs in the men's room, a workplace injury scam, or drug
dealing. They settle on selling blood. Here's an ambition of the
kind talked about in a Van Vogt short story:
The realization that he was the navy representative on the island included a thrilling mental visualization of himself rising to the rank of admiral—if he handled the situation right. Just what would be right, aside from keeping a sharp eye on everything, he couldn't decide. ¶It was an exquisite form of self-torture. (267)
Alternately one of them may find waitering not all it's cracked up to be and hankers to go back to being a busboy, as in a John Masefield short story:
And I surely was daft, I keep saying, to think the sea as bad as I always thought it. And if I were in a ship now, I say, I wouldn't be doing what I'm trying to do. And, ah! I say, if I'd but stuck to the sea I'd have been a third in the Cunard, or perhaps a second in a P.S.N. Coaster. I wouldn't be hunched at a desk, I say, but I'd be up on a bridge—up on a bridge with a helmsman, feeling her do her fifteen knots. (56)
Ideology
Though these losers might not rate a lot of worldly esteem, they are nevertheless great, life examples reminiscent of King Solomon deriving profound lessons from the wee critters of the natural world: (Prov. 30:24) “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:”
(Prov.
30:25) “The ants are a people not strong, yet they
prepare their meat in the summer.” It is good to start
earning and squirreling away money when one is young, i.e. in the summer of life. We meet
thirty-something Markie when he's holding down a job as a
make-a-wish companion for dogs. He could have started doing it when
much younger. Then he and Steef (Theo Von) worked for Markie's
sewer-pumping dad, perhaps a matter of nepotism. They go on to get
hired as busboys, the manager Tim (Tim Dillon) remarking that it's
usually younger folk, circa 18, who do that work.
(Prov. 30:26) “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” The rocks offer them protection. Location is all important. Our two entrepreneurs take on busboy jobs just this side of the Mexican border where serious competition is lacking.
(Prov. 30:27) “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.” It's good to make a lot of informal liaisons. The counter girl at the blood donation shack tends the wounds of one of the boys.
(Prov. 30:28) “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.” That palace gets swept regularly, but the spider just spins a new web. Careers suffer setbacks forcing one to start over. In this movie, though, it's more a voluntary regrouping.
Production Values
“” (2026) was directed by Jonah Feingold. It was written by David Spade and Theo Von. It stars David Spade, Theo Von and Jimmy Gonzales. The acting was mediocre at best with one standout, Tim Dillon playing a gay restaurateur.
MPA rated it R for language throughout, sexual content and some drug content. Sad to say the movie was poorly made; it could have used some professionalism in production, to say nothing of worthy actors. Runtime is 1 hour 37 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This flick never rises above grunge humor likely to repel a straight audience, though I am sure there's a niche following out there that will find it the cat's meow. Be forewarned.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Wake up and smell the 1990s technology. Video Occasion: Better than watching TV. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture was cited from the King James Version, Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software
Masefield, John. “Being Ashore” (from A Tarpaulin Muster.) Compiled in, Fifty Great Sea Stories. Copyright. London: Odhams Press, LTD. Print.
Van Vogt, A.E. “Dormant” copyright 1948 by Better Publications, Inc. Compiled by Samuel Mines in, The Best from Startling Stories. Copyright © 1953, by Henry Holt and Company, Inc. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., First edition. Print.
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