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Dickey just got dumped by his girlfriend, so he does what any self-respecting fresh on the market guy would do: he heads back to his house to drink away his problems with his roommate. It’s there that the conversation turns to the typical guy banter of sex in all its incarnations from slutty exes to one-night stands. Eventually they come to the conclusion that the only way Dickey is going to overcome his sorrow and move on with his life is to find and sleep with an anonymous girl. Or escape by taking a road trip. Whichever comes first.

This is proof positive that independent filmmaking is a double-edged sword. On the one hand you get all the intelligent, thought-provoking fare that breaks away from the traditional Hollywood prototypes. On the other hand, you get all the pseudo-intellectual knock-offs that come from the inspired masses that suddenly think, “I can do that, too.” “Alive and Lubricated” falls into the latter. The Butler brothers (director/co-writer Brett and producter/co-writer Jason) seem to hit nearly every horrible cliché that budding “artists” fall victim to.

The most noticeable is the lack of production value. Even though the film is shot in 16mm, the lack of good lighting equipment and a knowledgeable cameraman makes it look like hi-8 video. The whole movie is in black and white, except for one extremely off-putting shot of a friend describing his night. I’m assuming this was a reshoot that was just plopped in. But if you’re going to cut away to something, why not actually show what he’s talking about, instead of cutting from him talking to him talking to the camera? And please don’t star wipe. The video editing is the other tacky element of the feature. Aside from the nasty, haphazard scene constructions (it seems like they probably only cut away if someone messed up a line), these guys are fans of those standard digital effects you find in the editing software that just scream amateur. The titles were extremely pointless as well. Oh and if you’re also going to use titles to introduce three of the characters (with freeze-frames…sigh.), then at least do it for everyone. And for the love of whatever you believe in, don’t put your friends and yourself in the movie. If you want the film to look like something that other people would actually be interested in watching, hire actors. There are tons out there that would work for free just to boost their resume. As it stands, it looks like something you made while fooling around and would only be funny to the people in your neighborhood. And maybe it is funny to them, but I didn’t laugh once.

It’s obvious to anyone watching that there’s a resemblance to “Clerks.” Both are shot on black and white 16mm film, both use title cards to break up the scenes, the director and their friends are the actors, one character even works at a video store, both reference “Star Wars,” both lack acting abilities, and most of the movie is spent talking in that same style of pretentious, over-the-top, non-realistic diatribe. But here’s the difference. “Clerks” works. Not only is it legitimately funny and easily relatable, but it has a purpose in its overt and underlying social commentaries. “Alive and Lubricated” talks the talk, but fails to say anything. Or do anything. Nothing happens! Anyways, it’s hard to imagine that anyone’s day is so consumed with sex. That is honestly all these people ever talk about throughout the entire picture. Maybe it would be better if the actors had some sense of comic delivery to go with the sharp, smart ass dialogue, but probably not. I think to make a comedy like this truly effective, it can’t just be recognizable, but still maintain the element of surprise. These insults and situations aren’t anything new or particularly clever, so why should I be interested and would I laugh?

For more information on Alive and Lubricated visit http://www.subprod.com/alive.html

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