Comic Book Villains (2002)

Comic Book Villains(2002)
Written & Directed by James Robinson

I saw this movie when it first came out on video, and I was more into hero comics and not as knowledgable about movies then, and I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. Going back to it now, 5 years later and 5 years smarter, it's not the gem I once held it to be.

The concept, of every collector's dream (whether it be baseball cards, movie memorabilia, or comics) being thrown right into their lap: What you've been looking for your whole life is right there, primed for the taking. But wait, there's a catch: the greatest collection you could ever conceive of is in the hands of a sentimental old lady that refuses to sell her dead son's possessions.

So this sets up the story for two small-town rival comic shop owners. One is a die hard fan and collector (Donal Logue) and the others are purely in it for the money (Michael Rappaport and Natasha Lyonne). So the struggle becomes who can get the treasure trove of comics first, and you think it will be a fantastic ride. Sadly, it's not. The dialogue and the delivery are both VERY clunky, and I think that has to do with the direction. I know these actors are capable of being good, I've seen them all be at least mediocre, but in this film every line brings the movie to a halt. It's like they're overacting, but they aren't, which leaves me to believe it was the director's poor direction and insistence on certain things in the production of the movie.

Things that should be funny end up being funny in concept, but on screen they don't make you laugh. Like Danny Masterson's character Conan. What a weird character, nothing he did made you laugh, and in the end he won. Why? He was a tiny character in the film, and his position either way was never cemented. Was he really a huge creep? We guess so, but we never really know. The only semi-worthwhile character is DJ Qualls and that's because he basically plays his unassuming self, and in the end, he's the only sympathetic character that learns anything. Cary Elwes' character is seeming completely useless, and was inserted it seems for plot purposes only. Like the director ran out of ways for the plot to move along and he still have 30 pages to write, so he invented JC Carter. Weirdness.

All in all, I'd say this movie is disappointing because of what it could've been. It could've been a wacky farce about comic book collectors, but instead it really turns into a dark crime film. I sat staring at the homepage of these forums trying to decide where to put this review, crime or comedy, and ultimately I decided comedy, because it is intended to be black humor, but in the end, I think the movie fails that, because nothing really funny happens, the concept is just a comedy concept. Sadly, this wasn't a movie I'm glad I revisited after all. I should've stuck with my fond memories. Even still, it gets a star just for being about obsessive collectors.

6.2/10