Sunlight. He promises her that he'll give her half the $20,000 that he'll get for pawning his deceased father's watch. According to his mother, Gail (Melissa Chambers), he'll have to dig up his father's grave to find the real watch. The screenplay by writer/director Nina Conti and co-writer Shenoah Allen is an amusing, but tonally uneven blend of offbeat humor, dark comedy, drama and romance with a plot that's refreshingly bizarre. Sunlight leans heavily on the absurdity of a woman dressed as a monkey bonding and flirting with Roy. She's running away from her abusive ex and he just wants to end his life. Unfortunately, the film only offers intermittent laughs with its physical comedy and very little wit. Roy and Jane are both annoying characters who are hard to like or to root for. They're like nails on a chalkboard. Moreover, their character arcs don't feel organic or believable, so the more dramatic and serious beats don't quite land, especially in the rushed, cheesy and contrived third act. At 1 hour and 35 minutes, Sunlight opens at Quad Cinema via Sunrise Films.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
      Mattie Wilde (Cali Scolari) and her sister, Tinsley (Lydia Pearl Pentz), get banished to the wilderness of Oregon when their wealthy family loses their fortune during the Great Depression and their father dies The Wilde Girls. They believe that their conniving aunts, Beatrice (Susan Goforth) and Florence (Heidi Kravitz), hired an assassin, Button (Matt Silver), to hunt them down and kill them. Silas (Teddy Smith), a mountain man, befriends them and provides them with shelter. The screenplay by writer/director Timothy Hines is a funny, witty and razor-sharp satire with its tongue firmly in its cheek. From the very first frame, Hines manages to establish the film's outrageously comedic tone and to maintain it without any tonal unevenness. He also incorporates just the right amount of exposition within the few minutes to not waste any time with over-explaining. What the plot lacks in logic, it makes up for it in spades with sheer inventiveness that never wanes. After all, Hitchcock once wisely observed that logic is dull and that imagination is more important than logic. Case in point: a scene that takes place at a police station that you'll have to see to believe. Yes, it's an absurd scene, but also hysterically funny, and it almost rivals the jailhouse scene at the end of Bringing Up Baby.
      The entire ensemble cast, even the supporting cast, is superb and has terrific comedic timing. Cali Scolari and Lydia Pearl Pentz have wonderful chemistry together as Mattie and Tinsley whobicker and banter like Romy and Michelle from Romy & Michele's High School Reunion and Betsy and Arlene from Dick. It's also worth mentioning the lively, well-chosen soundtrack. If you could imagine the refreshing zaniness of Hundreds of Beavers with the sparkling wit and hilarity of Bringing Up Baby with some of the campiness from Romy & Michele's High School Reunion and Dick, it would look something like The Wilde Girls. It deserves to become a sleeper hit and a cult classic like Hundreds of Beavers. At a running time of only 1 hour and 59 minutes, The Wilde Girls opens at Cinema Village via Pendragon Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1