Pulpmovies Reviews

Troy B. Evins (Jeff Schubert) wants to make a movie – and he’s been talking about it for quite some time. But with a four-figure budget and no ideas, he isn’t getting very far, to say the least. Then his 8 year old son, Danny (Makaz Herrera) comes up with the inspired idea of making a movie about making a movie for only $7,000. So we have a film about a film about making a low budget film.

All that it takes now is for him to pull together an eclectic ensemble of friends, write a script, and find an actress who is both attractive and willing to share a love scene with him for no pay.

The result is an engaging, effective and very funny satire of the movie industry and the people on its edges. After an outrageously comical opening sequence, the film proceeds to parody every aspect of filmmaking – both independent and mainstream – with increasingly comical results.

The film is packed with sharply observed one-liners and jokes – both visual and verbal – many of which had me laughing out loud. But the real strength of Walking the Walk lies in its characterisation.

Writer/director Jeff Schubert has created a set of essentially ordinary, but very well-observed individuals and then shared out the screen time among them to allow a great deal of the humour in the film to emerge naturally from their interactions. There were, admittedly, a few slow moments as the characters were established, but once things got going, the film really was consistently hilarious.

The dialogue is very natural and believable and superbly brought to life by the cast, all of whom not only put in very solid performances throughout. They also look like they’re having as much fun with the film as the rest of us. What is impressive here – and what really makes this film work well - is that, although many of the characters feel familiar, none of them are stereotypical. The result is a set of characters that remain believable without becoming predictable.

More importantly, for all their flaws, pretensions and faults, you do find yourself becoming involved in the ups and downs of these characters. You may be laughing at them, but you are rooting for them at the same time.

Comedy is probably the hardest of genres to write. If you are not naturally funny, the results will feel forced, awkward, or worse. Fortunately, Jeff Schubert is a very funny man indeed and Walking the Walk is ample testimony to this fact. It’s a well acted dialogue driven comedy that takes many of the clichés of filmmaking and mercilessly skewers them to hugely funny effect.

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