Knuckle Draggers

• Directed By: Alex Ranarivelo
• Written By: Alex Ranarivelo
• Country: USA
• Released: 2009
• Running Time: 89 minutes
• Links: Official site
• Comedy, Reviews

Ethan (Ross McCall) is a bit of a wimp. He’s an aspiring director with no work and not enough confidence to make any headway in his chosen field. In fact, the only thing he really has going for him is his girlfriend, Heather (Jennifer Alden) and when she walks out on him it’s not much of a surprise that he begins to go to pieces.

Fortunately – or not – his brother, Kyle (Paul J. Alessi) is on hand to help him pull himself together. However, while Ethan wants nothing more to re-establish his relationship with Heather, Kyle’s view of Ethan’s best interest is very different. Kyle’s attitude to women can best be summed up by the title of the film and he sets out to convince Ethan that his casual sexism is not only successful, but also what women want.

Ethan is less than convinced and his female friends are appalled at Kyle’s attitude but, when Ethan starts venturing out into the dating world, he starts to find that Kyle’s assertions are a lot more accurate than his own assumptions.

This short synopsis completely undersells the film. While Knuckle Draggers is a battle of the sexes comedy, there is much, much more going on here. Kyle is divorced and bitter and trying to rationalise his activities – as much to himself as to anyone else – but he also has an easy charm that makes him not just utterly believable but also quite likeable. It’s this effortless amiability that holds things together when Kyle’s attitudes start to affect the relationships of Ethan’s friends, primarily two couples; Patricia and Gavin (Amie Barsky and Justin Baldoni) and Russell and Renee (Omar Gooding and Danielle Nicolet).

I’ve already mentioned Kyle and, to a large extent, he is the character who shakes things up, but all six of these characters are remarkably well drawn. They all have failures and foibles that are both consistent and frighteningly familiar. The depth of these characters makes for a film that looks at relationships in a manner that is not only very funny but also painfully honest.

It helps, of course, that the performances are so strong throughout. This is very much an ensemble comedy and all of the cast put in excellent performances, not just the leads, but also the minor characters. There isn’t a single weak performance in this film and the result of this is that the the characters not only come to life. Even when you are laughing out loud – and there are a lot of laughs to be had in this film – you still want to know how things will turn out. And the real-life familiarity of the characters also keeps you wanting to see things that turn out well.

Things certainly turn out very believably. The events in the film do not resolve themselves as you’d initially expect but nor is the ending a twist. This, more than anything, reflects both the strength and the honesty of a plot that is both well constructed and willing to go wherever the characters take it.

Knuckle Draggers is a film that is not only very well written and superbly acted, but also one that is as thought provoking as it is funny. It is rare that you find a film that is as consistently good as this one – at any budget – and it is well worth keeping an eye out for.