Sunday
Jun282009
Festival Movie Review - 'Knuckle Draggers'
Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 3:05PM | Knuckle Draggers
Starring Ross McCall, Paul J. Alessi, and Amie Barsky  |
As long as there have been movies, there have been movies about relationships. One of
the very first films to play for an paying audience was The Kiss, which was a 47-second smooch made
in 1896. It was quite controversial at the time. Obviously, the form handles love in broader terms now, with romantic comedies and dramas of every
stripe, and even the majority of action films have some love interest. It does make the world go 'round,
they say.
Working outside the mainstream, the adult romantic comedy Knuckle Draggers examines men and women, but mostly men. In particular, how men work in and out of
relationships, how they deal with women, and how their attitudes can be shaped by their male friends.
Ethan (Ross McCall) has just been dumped. His beautiful girlfriend
(Jennifer Alden) is tired of waiting for the life she
wants, even though Ethan is working towards a dream she should have long since understood. He's devastated
but his brother Kyle (Paul J. Alessi) sees this as an opportunity to mold a new
Kyle out of his brother. I think we've all known a Kyle, a guy who goes through life barreling through
women five or six at a time, conquering but never achieving anything. That's not exactly who you want as
your corner man in this kind of fight, or at least, not in the real world.
Ethan wants his old life back, but Kyle convinces him to play the field first. It doesn't help. Of course,
Kyle may not be everything (or the one thing) he makes himself out to be, either, so that casts even more
doubt on his sage advice. He believes, and cites university studies to the effect, that man and women are
the same beasts now they were before the dawn of civilization, and that the same things motivate them in
relation to the opposite sex.
Reader Comments (1)
Nice write up! I enjoyed reading your view of Knuckle Draggers. :)