Never Been Thawed

Holly Reese

3-24-13

Never Been Thawed

      I usually enjoy terrible films. My favorite genre of film is cult and one of my favorite writers and directors is John Waters. I have never really found a movie that I didn’t find something to like. Well, the search is over. Never Been Thawed is a film that I have no interest in ever watching again. I wasn’t horrified by the jokes about religion or sex. The humor was crude, but it was nothing I was offended by. I simply did not like this film. I did not like how it was filmed and I did not like the acting. I found the pacing to be very boring. That being said, I understand what the filmmakers were trying to achieve through their comedy and mise-en-scene.

     Fake documentary films can be very funny when they are done correctly. This is Spinal Tap, Best In Show, and even Borat are ‘mock-umentary’ films that are very funny. Never Been Thawed makes fun of obsessive collectors. In this case, these people collect boxes of frozen foods. It is a funny premise, I can admit that. I also liked that it was filmed in a way that doesn’t look professional in any way. The low quality camera work makes this film seem more believable. The awkwardness of the characters also added to this realistic style.

      The mise-en-scene was very interesting in this film. In backgrounds of many of the scenes, there were clues and jokes about the characters and their situations. The magazines, pamphlets, artwork, and other objects that the characters interacted around were full of sight gags and jokes that could go unnoticed if the viewer was not paying attention. I think I caught many of these jokes, but I’m sure if I watched it again I would see many more. However, I don’t really want to watch this film again.