Tampa Film Fan

bums on dvd

I must admit that I had never heard of Canadian filmmaker brothers Brett and Jason Butler until Brett emailed me about sending me a DVD of their latest film Bums.  But I’d never pass on a free DVD or on a chance to hear Canadians say “aboot.”  And I’m glad I didn’t pass, because Bums is a funny, raunchy indie gem that’s worth watching.

The description on the back of the DVD cover reads:

A day in the life comedy, Bums follows the lives of six friends as their relationships blur together to produce love, laughs, lethargy and a loose cannon.  Bums is an insightful and provocative look at life neither here nor there on a day like any other day — when you don’t have a clue what you’re doing but all the time in the world to do it.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.  Bums centers around Dave (Jason Butler), who just broke up with his cheating girlfriend, and his friend Don (Brett Butler), both of whom are looking to score with the opposite sex.  As many times as possible, with as many women as possible, as soon as possible.  Their quest to hook up is always on their minds as they go throughout their day, sitting around, getting high, driving around town, eating and just generally bumming around. In Bums, it’s not just the guys on the prowl — the female lead characters are also looking to hook up…with anyone except the Butler brothers.

Jason and Brett Butler are mesmerizing on screen, especially during their Kevin Smith-ish casual riffs on pop culture.  It took me a little while to get into Bums — it usually does for me with slice-of-life movies — but once I was hooked, I hated to see the movie end. I wanted to hang out with the guys for the rest of their evening.

I wasn’t so enthralled with the female characters, however.  They didn’t ring true.  In the directors’ commentary, one of the Butler brothers said that they wrote better dialogue for the women in Bums than they did in their previous film Alive and Lubricated.  They still have some room for improvement on that one. Women don’t talk about sex the same way that men do.  To me, the dialogue between the two female leads sounded like the male fantasy version of how women talk about sex, complete with some attempted girl-on-girl action.

The Butlers made some interesting stylistic choices with Bums, beginning with the decision not to shoot in color.  Inventive split screens and creative POV shots help this movie pop instead of stagnate.  Plus, the soundtrack rocks.

The special edition DVD’s features include the filmmakers’ commentary (one of the more interesting ones I’ve heard recently), a production photo album, outtakes, a music video and the original trailer.

Visit www.subprod.com to order Bums, find out about upcoming films or to learn more about this dynamic filmmaking duo.