Dexter and Royce’s small town sub-‘Dude Where’s My Car?’ junky existence takes a turn for the bizarre when Royce’s street walking girlfriend Matilda seemingly dies of an overdose.
Not only do they happen to owe the local psychopathic drug dealer a stack of cash, but they’re also being tailed by a gang of preppy Satanists. Desperate to pay off their bills, stay alive and high the duo set off on a wild ride to the far-side. And then the midgets show up and things get really weird…
Weirdsville is an entertaining little black comedy mining those rich veins of humour; death, drugs and dwarves. At times endearingly amateurish (some scenes look as though they’ve been taken apart with a hacksaw) the film overcomes this and it’s obviously meagre budget to push all the right stoner/cult buttons.
The narcotic banter between the two leads (Underworld’s Scott Speedman and American Beauty’s Wes Bentley) is strong and produces a few genuine laugh out loud moments as the addled pair try to cope with the strangeness going on around them. Sensibly, the tone is kept light – even when the protagonists are on the brink of death or philosophising on the state of their lives – there’s no heavy moral judgements or wringing of hands here. To its credit – and lets face it, seldom do the movies get this right – Weirdsville shows its characters interacting with each other as long term drug users actually do. Don’t ask me how I know this, but the mixture of paranoia, heightened emotion and piss-taking slap stick humour is all spot on.
The plot is lean and straight forward, allowing the laughs and surprises to get out of the script naturally and easily. Sure, it’s not going to change anyone’s life but as a fresh and funny antidote to the slew of American dumbed-down slacker horror/comedies out there, Weirdsville is a sure fire winner.
