A company course on ruthless industrialism disguised as a slacker funny: Thats the kindest method to explain Michael Lehmanns Flakes, a movie that shares the smug, hipper-than-thou perceptiveness of its sour protagonist, Neal Downs (Aaron Stanford).
An aspiring rock musician who handles a New Orleans restaurant where the only costs of fare is breakfast cereal, Neal is a reflexively sarcastic deadbeat whose equally sour girlfriend, Pussy Katz (Zooey Deschanel), shares his bohemian imagine taking a trip the nation in an Airstream trailer, making music and art.
The walls of the restaurant, called Flakes, are lined with cereal boxes, including uncommon terminated brand names. As consumers slop up exotic combinations, the movie recommends a deadpan spoof of premium fetishism. One home specialized chocolate-flavored grains soaked in chocolate milk sounds especially nauseating.
Owned by Willie (Christopher Lloyd), a run-down hippie geezer with mad-scientist hair, Flakes limps along as a hangout for deadbeats till a bright-eyed yuppie visitor, Stuart (Keir ODonnell), proposes turning it into a financially rewarding franchise. When Willie and Neal reveal no interest, Stuart establishes a competing Flakes across the street, and the New Orleans cereal wars begin.
Wanting to put Stuart out of business, Neal starts playing unclean techniques, the nastiest of which is the distribution of fliers to the homeless promising 10 complimentary bowls per consumer at his rivals facility. The trick sets off a near-riot that Stuart masterfully turns to his benefit.
Neals brand-new live-in relationship with Pussy starts to curdle when she turns traitor and goes to work for the competitors, hoping that the death of the initial Flakes will leave Neal with time to finish his CD. If the name of his band, Cereal Killers, is perfectly chosen, its music is a joke.
Once lawyers become involved in the conflict, the motion pictures anti-establishment mindset vaporizes, as does the tiny little levity Flakes has produced.
FLAKES
Opens on Wednesday in Manhattan; also on Video as needed.
Directed by Michael Lehmann; composed by Chris Poche and Karey Kirkpatrick; director of photography, Nancy Schreiber; edited by Nicholas C. Smith; music by Jason Derlatka and Jon Ehrlich; produced by Gary Winick and Jake Abraham; launched by IFC First Take. http://eduardoqsrh290.trexgame.net/a-number-of-things-you-should-know-about-pocket-universe At the IFC Center, 323 Opportunity of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. This film is not ranked.
WITH: Aaron Stanford (Neal Downs), Zooey Deschanel (Miss Pussy Katz), Christopher Lloyd (Willie), Frank Wood (Bruce), Ryan Donowho (Skinny Larry), Izabella Miko (Strawberry) and Keir ODonnell (Stuart).