Many people know of, or at least recognize, comedian and actor David Cross. Known mostly for his roll on Arrested Development, the actor has been around for quite some time but it wasn’t until this past year when he decided to both write and direct his first feature film, a little indie comedy called HITS.
“HITS is a dark comedy exploring the nature of fame in 21st Century YouTube America. The film takes place in a small town in upstate New York populated by people who trade in unrealistic expectations. It’s a story in which fame, delusion, earnestness, and recklessness meet, shake hands, and disrupt the lives around them.”
The above is the official synopsis which does a really great job giving you the overall take on the film and the themes you can expect the film to cover. If we get into specifics, the film focuses on a father (Matt Walsh) that’s obsessed with seeing justice served and issues resolved in his small town, his daughter (Meredith Hagner) who would do anything to become famous, even if it’s in the most white trash way possible, and a socially conscience hipster (James Adomian) that’s looking for the next big story to blog about, the target which just so happens to be about Dave, the father, making Dave’s daughter a bit jealous.
Hits is a satirical take on American society and how the nature of fame has changed with the advent of YouTube. Like the intelligent comedian that he is, I was happy to see David Cross write something meaningful rather than a stupid comedy. I find the man to be very funny and generally find myself laughing at his humor, but Hits doesn’t feel like something that came from the mind of Cross, which is why it’s both great and disappointing. It feels like a less fun/funnier version of a Bobcat Goldthwait film (I loved God Bless America) but equally as intelligent.
The scary part about watching a movie like Hits is that you could totally see something like this story happening. While it seems farfetched, it’s completely realistic and crazy enough that it’s actually believable. While I didn’t think the movie was laugh-out-loud funny, it’s the stupidity of these very real characters that makes you smile. It also causes feelings of embarrassment to bubble up inside you because, as an American, you know these are the types of images that make it to other countries and give the more down-to-earth folks a bad rep. It was this realization of how desperate people are to earn fame, and hopefully fortune, that makes us such a sad society to observe. Cross doesn’t just cover this idea from a shallow perspective; he goes the whole nine yards, diving deep enough into each character of the three main characters until we reach the epic climax.
The reason I say epic climax is because the final 20 minutes of Hits is the best part of the film and is the perfect culmination of what happens when we bring attention to cases and people that really don’t deserve it. On the other hand, it could be what happens when a perfect storm of pressure mounting, people getting excited, and a stage is set with cameras that allow insanity to ensue. The tagline to the film is “based on a true story…that hasn’t happened yet,” well folks, David Cross has hit the nail on the head because once you get through this scene all you can think is “how hasn’t this happened yet?” The film borrows from real life situations and alters them to fit the mould of the story.
While Hits wasn’t the comedic gem I was hoping for, it’s a solid start for David Cross who makes his directorial debut with this feature starring a bunch of his friends and a handful of no-name cast members. It’s a very indie film with some fun writing and various acting quality, but the main reason to see Hits is to see how well someone has been able to capture what it means to live in America today and how YouTube and internet stardom has impacted our society. For now, we can pretend that this movie is real life because it’s only a matter of time before the craziness of the film comes to fruition.
HITS is now in theaters in NY and LA and is also available via BitTorrent as a Pay-What-You-Want release.
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