Review
In essence, BUMS is the same film as the Butler Brothers production ALIVE AND LUBRICATED. What makes BUMS great is that everything the Butlers wanted to communicate in ALIVE AND LUBRICATED comes through with such clarity in this endeavor. At the same time, BUMS adds another layer or two to the complexities that make their characters mirrors of the contemporary twenty-something slacker lifestyle. Like ALIVE AND LUBRICATED, BUMS starts with a breakup. This time it's the faithful Dave (Jason Butler) calling off his year-long coupling with his philandering girlfriend Jill (Tessa Sproule). How does Dave try to get over the spilt? He hits the bar scene and tries to hook-up with someone else. Instead of looking at relationships through the eyes of men only, BUMS has at least three lenses. The first is from Jill's point of view. With her friend Heather (Karen Suzuki), Jill discusses the merits and downfalls of female sexual liberty and the rise of the emotional man. With Dave's friend Don (Brett Butler) and Jill's roommate Lucy (Tammy Gerus), we get to see the euphoria of a burgeoning romance. Then there's Dave, the single guy who has to get used to not having regular sex and fumbling his chances for a one-night stand. At the end of my ALIVE AND LUBRICATED review, I said that A&L was a good starting point for the Butler Brothers. I wasn't just saying they can make better films, I was saying they will make better films. BUMS is a better film. Much better. The filmmaking is smarter, with inspired shots instead of just panning. The black and white style is ditched for the slightly more vibrant, and oh so fitting desaturated photography. In BUMS the Brothers have a sense of exactly what they want to accomplish, and they do it with the confidence and finesse of true indies. BUMS succeeds not only because the Brothers seem to have matured enough to know what chances they can take in filmmaking, but also because the screenplay has become more contemplative. Sure, the film is filled with quotable one-liners and a battlefield of banter, cliché versus cliché. The dialogue, however, is also that French pseudo-philosophical chit-chat, and it serves its purpose in character development. Anyone who has read my reviews knows I'm big on character, and that's what I love about this screenplay. The Butler Brothers aren't just creating mouthpieces; they're creating beautiful, tangible human beings. Take Lucy, who is by far the most entertaining character in the film. She gets the best lines and, in dialogue, the best rebuttals. She's the character I feel I know best, because her paced and thoughtful lines make me want to know her. By the end of BUMS, I know all the characters very well. What is relieving about this quarter-life crisis film is that those characters don't start in a corporate office like the ones in IN GOOD COMPANY or ELIZABETHTOWN. Instead, we get twenty-somethings in an environment that seems so familiar. ALIVE AND LUBRICATED tried to simulate that yuppie lifestyle with its corporate climber character. Here there's only retail, bars and disillusionment (okay and some drugs). It's combination with which the Butlers seem comfortable, maybe a little too comfortable. Slackers or not, the Butler Brothers have created a film that can speak to a generation. I actually think that makes them overachievers. --Dan Stasiewski, The Film Chair
Product Description
BUMS is the ambitious, critically-acclaimed follow up to ALIVE AND LUBRICATED, the Butler Brothers debut feature and the second film of their ABC Break-Up Trilogy which also includes the international award-winner, CONFUSIONS OF AN UNMARRIED COUPLE.
With overlapping storylines and plenty of location exteriors, the Butlers on-the-fly ability and guerilla-style filmmaking skills were put to the test on their 11 day shoot.
The DVD includes a hilarious commentary by the Butler Brothers that provides invaluable tips and insight on the trials and tribulations of making a truly independent film on a tight budget.
