I deeply enjoyed the first 45-minutes-or-so, because I'm an aspiring filmmaker and it's both amusing and insightful to behold the mishaps that go on when making a low, low-budget film. But past that point, the movie drifts off, fixating on Mark Borchardt's family life, which isn't very interesting. Hell, neither is my family life, but you don't see me releasing my home videos for the whole viewing public to see. Borchardt's rantings are often funny (sometimes you're laughing with him, other times at him), but sometimes they get annoying. I would compare Mark to Ed Wood in his perseverance, but other than that (and the fact that both their films are beyond terrible) they're quite different. Mark is very paranoid, and if he doesn't get the shot the way he likes it, he throws a fit. Ed was very confident and if the first take would turn out halfway decent, he'd yell "Cut and print!" I mean, if you're gonna be a bad filmmaker, act like a bad filmmaker. Don't pretend like you're Stanley Kubrick. But those are my criticisms about Mark, and not the movie.
The movie isn't bad, but the first 45 minutes are the best and the rest is pretty much downhill. I don't care about Mark passing out on the couch watching the Oscars or watching the Green Bay Packers play on television while he sips beer like no tomorrow. In a way, documentaries are good, because they hold a mirror up to reality, and we don't see enough reality in mainstream film. But reality isn't always interesting. If you want to see a consistently interesting documentary, watch "Roger and Me," which contains a wide variety of characters who are each quirky and amusing in their own ways. All I really cared about was Mark's pursuit in making the great American movie, no matter how far from great it really is. So if the movie concentrated on that, and the running time was trimmed, I would've found it much more fascinating.
My score: 6 (out of 10)
The movie isn't bad, but the first 45 minutes are the best and the rest is pretty much downhill. I don't care about Mark passing out on the couch watching the Oscars or watching the Green Bay Packers play on television while he sips beer like no tomorrow. In a way, documentaries are good, because they hold a mirror up to reality, and we don't see enough reality in mainstream film. But reality isn't always interesting. If you want to see a consistently interesting documentary, watch "Roger and Me," which contains a wide variety of characters who are each quirky and amusing in their own ways. All I really cared about was Mark's pursuit in making the great American movie, no matter how far from great it really is. So if the movie concentrated on that, and the running time was trimmed, I would've found it much more fascinating.
My score: 6 (out of 10)