In what has to the first -- and hopefully last -- use of an Army helicopter as the "smoking gun" in this sort of genre, "Home Fries" is a dismal, poorly executed and decidedly unfunny stab at black comedy. Although it has enough quirky charm to make it bearable to sit through, the fact that it's neither outrageous nor hilarious will doom this film to a quick box office death and subsequent hasty trip to the video stores.
Working from a ten-year-old script by current "The X-Files" TV scribe, Vince Gilligan, freshman director Dean Parisot has the necessary ingredients for such a macabre film. An initial accidental murder, several oddball characters with no problems regarding killing people, and a slight twist or two show signs of what may follow. It's quite obvious, however, that Parisot doesn't have the necessary cinematic culinary experience for cooking up a concoction like this.
While the whole helicopter bit (that, not surprisingly, bookends the film's start and conclusion) is presumably present to "jazz up" the proceedings, it does nothing but horribly clash with the rest of the story and its "down home" feel. The tactic of scaring the stepfather back into fidelity could have been handled in any number of ways that would have worked much better with the rest of the story.
To make matters worse, you never buy into the notion that either of these two simpletons would qualify to fly the military choppers, let alone "borrow" them whenever they seemingly want. While Mr. Gump may have exposed the virtues of "Stupid is as stupid does," the brothers' collective low mental functioning not only proves to be unfunny, but further exemplifies the fact that they'd never be allowed to operate multimillion dollar pieces of military equipment.
In addition, the whole bit about having Dorian getting a job flipping burgers so that he can infiltrate the workers -- and in particular, Sally -- is half baked at best and poorly executed overall. Of course, it's designed so that he'll fall for her -- pregnancy and all, and isn't much of a surprise to anyone who's seen a movie before -- which will then be complicated by the matter of his homicidal brother wanting to kill her for their momma.
While there's some comic potential there -- albeit not in huge quantities -- the "fun" of such a predicament never arrives, what's follows is too predictable, and the whole thing is executed so poorly that you'll begin to ponder why the story wasn't left sitting on the shelf for another decade.
In particular, the film's handling of its black comedy elements -- namely the brothers accidentally scaring their stepfather to death and their subsequent coverup efforts -- is terribly mishandled. While black comedy always precariously balances on the fine line of humorous outrageousness and bad taste, this film missteps right from the beginning and suffers from being neither funny nor outrageous.
Forgetting for a moment the odd use of the helicopter to scare their stepfather, the "fun" from such a scene would arise from the brothers panicking over their accidentally causing his fatal heart attack and their subsequent comic efforts to cover their tracks and eliminate all evidence of their misdoing.
While the story marginally proceeds along those lines, the brothers' nonchalant reaction to their stepfather's death shortchanges the film's comic possibilities. Instead of them scrambling to cover their butts, the film begins to segue into a black comedy/romantic comedy hybrid with the brother's mother serving as something akin to Ma Barker ordering her hapless sons to do her dirty work. Although all of that may have worked if structured and handled appropriately, it's severely botched here and the result is a hapless film that neither fits nor succeeds in any or all genres.
It also suffers from many moments presumably structured to be funny -- Dorian dressed up in the Burger-Matic spaceman mascot outfit -- that aren't, and too many bits of coincidence -- the military helicopters just happen to broadcast on the same radio frequency as the burger joint's wireless headsets -- that can't be overcome by suspension of disbelief. A few minor adjustments to the script here and there would have remedied many of the film's problems, but alas, we're stuck with what's been delivered.
The performances -- somewhat suited for a film like this -- range from decent to obviously overzealous acting. Drew Barrymore ("Ever After," "The Wedding Singer") is charming and filled with enough watered down exuberance to keep the film from falling flat on its face. Unfortunately, the chemistry between her and Luke Wilson ("Scream 2") -- who often emotes nothing but an anguished look throughout the film -- never works and thus we don't care about them as a would-be couple.
Faring somewhat better -- for a black comedy -- are Catherine O'Hara and Jake Busey. O'Hara (the mother in the "Home Alone" flicks) appropriately plays her wacked out mother character with outrageous zeal, while Busey ("Contact" "The Frighteners") -- yes, Gary's near look alike son -- is firmly establishing himself as cinema's new leading man for playing oddball characters.
It's too bad the film doesn't carry the same enthusiasm that those two performers exude. Listless, and never certain what genre in which in wants to fall, "Home Fries" lacks the spark or creativity to succeed no matter how one looks at it. We give this film -- a misguided hybrid that attempts to mix romance and black comedy -- a 2 out of 10.