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92%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #14,242
...out of 20,698 movies
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A clumsy slacker experiences the ultimate morning from hell as he struggles to make it to work on time and encounters disaster at every turn.
--IMDb
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Everyone's had a bad day. Everyone's had a Monday morning. Everyone's woken up late and had to rush to get to work on time, encountering every problem imaginable. It's Murphy's Law. Whatever bad that can happen...will happen. "Monday Morning" is, essentially, a chronicle of Murphy's Law. It's a short film, clocking in at around 11 minutes, that shows the worst of the worst when it comes to getting to work on time. Having reviewed two films from this director already -- the enjoyable "Unstable" and the 'eh-eh' "Emo Pill", I was anxious to watch this film and have a better understanding of the filmmaker, on the whole.
The plot is simple -- a slacker, Trevor (Duane Noch) wakes up late for work and encounters problem after problem as he tries to make it to work in half an hour, or risk being fired. The film is told like a silent film, with a constant musical score over the entire thing, sped-up antics and words flashing on the screen, silent-era style. That is an odd approach. While the speeding up effect works, coupled with the black and white and the old film filter, there is just not enough material here to make it work for 11 minutes. Silent films have to be extraordinarily well done, which is why I consider filmmakers from the silent era to be some of the most accomplished in history. It takes a great filmmaker to make a picture interesting with just music and action, plus making their audience read. Back then, it was all they had and it was probably entertaining. Nowadays, it just takes a little more.
I love creativity and I especially love when independent filmmakers venture outside the norm to experiment with film styles that are not common nowadays. Director Anthony Spadaccini has done that here, and it probably would have worked better if it had been a six minute film, as opposed to an eleven minute one. Halfway through, this running joke has been exhausted. Essentially, that's what the film is -- a running joke. The humor comes from the fact that the film is being played like a silent film. It just doesn't work for an extended length of time. Even sped up considerably at points, the film felt too long.
On the positive side, Duane Noch is perfect for the lead role. He has the exaggerations and the mannerisms of someone from the silent era of film. He has enough expression on his face and enough physicality to make the film work far better than the normal parody or homage. It was also nice to see some familiar faces from "Unstable", like Bobby Hamilton as (poorly titled) Gay Teenager -- would 'Teenager' not have worked just as well (sorry, that's the gay rights activist coming out in me); and, James Schaeffer as a very funny Bum. So, all in all, "Monday Morning" meant well and some people might find it highly entertaining, but I just couldn't sit through 11 minutes of a silent era tribute without thinking about how much I'd rather be watching "City Lights" or "Modern Times". Kudos for the creativity and for the performances, but not enough meat in the sauce. 5/10.
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