GREG & GENTILLON (Matthiew Klinck). 85 minutes. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (August 31). Rating: NN
If This Is Spinal Tap is port-infused cheddar, Greg & Gentillon is Cheez Whiz. This piece of mockumenary fromage follows comedy team Greg & Gentillon as they mug ‘n’ shimmy from rural Quebec to the bright lights and open mics of Toronto in pursuit of stardom. Then their friendship splinters under the pressures of artistic delusion and poverty.
Writers Thomas Michael and Louis Durand , helped by their high school pal director Matthiew Klinck , fold their intentionally bad comic alter egos into a make-believe doc. A shame there aren’t many laughs. The result is a big serving of genuine lame with the odd dollop of choreographed lame – hardly win-win.
Michael’s understated Gentillon is less grating than the desperate, Jim Carreyesque face distortions of Durand’s Greg. The “aren’t we clever?” vibe is tough to take when there’s no original spin on the drive for artistic acceptance or friendship.
This flick’s heart is in the right place, but it feels like a stretched-out inside joke that may have been smirk-inducing after your eighth Carling at some AV club party.
You spend much of the movie hoping the boys pull it together, but halfway through you’re left rubbing your neglected funny bone wondering how Greg & Gentillon managed to elbow its way into your multiplex.
