GrantKanigan Review of The Clapper

The Clapper (I) (2017)

A muted misfire that wastes a great premise and brilliant cast

[24 August 2018]

Writer director Dito Monteil has some decent if not interesting credits to his name, ('A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints'), but his latest film falls absolutely flat. "The Clapper" starts out with a brilliant premise; what if a normal, broken-ish man was thrust into unwanted fame? Would he fully break? Accept it? Deny it? Fight it? All would make for interesting answers, and compelling storytelling; sadly 'The Clapper' offers none lf them. Although it features an astounding cast, (Helms continues to prove his merit as a dramatic actor, Morgan is great as usual, Peters makes the most out of a thankless/one dimensional role, and Levine proves he still has some talent without a microphone; Remni is also strong in a nothing role and Seyfried does her damndest to make her poorly written character interesting), and some hilarious cameos, there's not much else of note. The premise goes nowhere, the film has tonal whiplash; moving from dramatic to funny to unsettling, and by the finale, nothing much of note has been said. This could have been many things; a Taxi Driver for the digital age, a dark satire or a straight up romantic comedy. Instead it tries halfheartedly for all three tones and grasps none of them. Even at face value, it seems like a bygone genre, a 'Mr. Smith Goes to Hollywood' with Ed Helms as Jimmy Stewart, but it can't even get that right. Additionally - there's so much left out thay could have been great - cameos from industry insiders, (Billy Banks and Vince Offer make appearances, as well as buisiness guru Mark Cuban); the aforementioned premise that could have gone wild with cell phone media, (filmed in late 2016 and released in 2018, the film feels like it was shot in 2009), as well as the superb cast, the film feels like nothing but a waste of time and talent. Hopefully someone else can either remake or use the premise for 'The Clapper' somewhere else, because it had so much promise. All in all, the brilliant cast makes the 'The Clapper' watchable, but just barely. Good enough for viewing on a cold rainy sunday, but not much else.