AWFUL NICE Review

Release Date:   March 7, 2014 (Limited Release)
MPAA Rating:   R
Director:   Todd Sklar
FilmPulse Score:   5/10

Awful Nice opens somewhere in South Dakota with one-half of the Brouillette brothers passed-out, naked, and surrounded by beer cans inside of a wigwam which seems to be his home for the time being. Until, his older brother Jim (James Pumphrey) borrows a drinking glass and rouses his younger brother, Dave (Alex Rennie), awake from his drunken slumber to inform him of their father’s death and the two set off for Kansas City after Dave cancels his bird-purchasing plans.

Writer/director Todd Sklar, along with co-writer Alex Rennie, firmly establishes the type of relationship the Brouillette brothers have with one another; one comprised almost entirely of classic one-upmanship, deeply personal verbal attacks and, of course, plenty of old-fashioned fisticuffs as well as other various types of physical combat. They end up putting on quite the display at their father’s wake, a quick introduction into the catalog of brotherly violence contained within this sibling rivalry, when an impromptu beverage chugging contest breaks out, quickly morphing into an arm wrestling competition, complete with burning Alonzo Mourning rookie card intermission, devolving into general face punching for the finale.

Their relationship has been like this their entire lives and nothing really changes during the film’s 92 minute run-time. Awful Nice follows the standard ‘odd couple’ routine with one brother (Jim) playing the stick-in-the-mud, responsible one with a career and family, while the younger brother (Dave) plays the wildcard, the irresponsible loose cannon, down for just about anything. For the most part, the film’s two leads, Pumphrey and Rennie, do a commendable job of presenting a natural, realistic brotherly relationship deeply rooted in verbal digs and insults and physical altercations.

The comedy within Sklar’s Awful Nice happens to be a mixed bag of rapid-fire, albeit hit-or- miss, dialogue riddled with expletives and the word ‘dude’, incessantly talking over one another at every conceivable opportunity, the brothers’ relentless verbal assaults quickly become irritating and exhausting; most of this dialogue consists of the aforementioned digs and insults hurled at each other’s faces or Jim reacting to some out-of-left-field comment or action coming from his younger brother. The comedic highlight of Awful Nice, outside of Dave’s jet-ski technique breakdown, was the brilliant execution of old-school physical comedy.

Todd Sklar’s Awful Nice is an indie comedy that has its moments and benefits greatly from a strong start, but unfortunately wears out its welcome in time due to the main character’s penchant for incessant bickering (not to mention the film’s poor audio mixing) which leans more towards grating annoyance than its intended purpose of humor and entertainment.