The Independent DVD Review

Mockumentaries are the hardest genre to successfully pull off. There needs to be the right amount of deadpan humor aligned with enough erroneous story to fuel the film and send it in the proper ridiculous direction. The Independent is a film that doesn’t necessarily top the list of well-crafted mockumentaries but it does its job and comes out a shade above par.

Morty Fineman (Jerry Stiller) is the great filmmaker who has brought audiences 427 films, including such amazing classics as Twelve Angry Men and A Baby, The Man With Two Things, The Simplex Complex, Bald Justice, S-E-X That Spells Sex, I See London I See France, and The Heart is a Strong Muscle. While working on his latest work, a socially conscious semi-erotic thriller named Ms. Kevorkian, he finds out that his company is broke. He seeks out his estranged daughter, Paloma (Janeane Garofalo) in order to find funding, save the company, and continue his passion for making social commentary ridden pictures.

Many directors such as Ron Howard, Nick Cassavetes, and Ted Demme, act as interviewed commentators on Morty’s career and persona. This helps show the mixed view that the world has of Fineman’s films. The best part of this film however, is the variety of ridiculous B-movie clips from fictional films. It’s like watching a plethora of Grindhouse trailers. Stephen Kessler properly captures the tone he was going for and executes a film with many ridiculous laughs.

Jerry Stiller is an absolute riot as always with his loud obnoxious persona. He plays his regular character and does it well. Garofalo does the same old thing also but what makes her performance so entertaining is that there are some scenes where you can see her fighting not to laugh. There’s a whole list of surprise performances from actors such as Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, and Brian Posehn that get quite a few laughs as well.

The Special Features consist of a large group of Deleted Scenes, Bonus Film Clips from the Fineman vault, an audio commentary with Stephen Kessler, Jerry Stiller, and Mike Wilkins, and Nancy Sinatra Records “The Independent.” The deleted scenes are fun and the bonus films from the vault are pretty hysterical. The audio commentary helps point out extra things to laugh at as well as a decent insight to the filmmaking. Watching the making of the theme song is entertaining because you get to see what went into it and you get to focus on the ridiculous lyrics.

The best part of the DVD is how seriously it takes itself. The synopsis on the back goes out of its way to make Morty Fineman seem like a legitimate person as do the blocks of text that precede the deleted scenes. Still, I got a huge laugh before the film started because the DVD takes the time to ask you if you would like the Spanish subtitles on or off. Hilarious.

The Independent is not the greatest film to come around but it is funny. It’s very much in the ridiculous humor vein and will jive with fans of David Wain and National Lampoon. Not only is it an independent film about the ultimate independent filmmaker, it’s a film about life—the life that can only be captured in a mockumentary.