Soup Of The Day

Soup of the Day
Jennifer Reitman, Jon Crowley, Patty Wortham, Tina Molina
Directed by Scott Zakarin
2 DVDs
Echo Bridge Home Entertainment 2007
93 minutes

Soup of the Day is if not the first one of the first of a phenomenon that is certainly going to grow: internet movies that become full-length indie (and, soon, major studio) movies. There will probably even be a televised awards ceremony for this kind of creature though this will come too late for Soup of the Day. Not that this independent comedy on DVD would win many of them.

Soup of the Day has flaws typical of independent movies: weird “awtistic” camera angles, actors in minor roles much too aware they are making a movie and who look at the camera instead of the character they are supposed to be talking to. This, however, is something most indie movie fans are quite used to and easily if not subconsciously overlook. It does not really take away from the movie. What does is the rather bland and clumsy performance by Jon Crowley as Brandon Craig, the lead character and some pretty awful performances by some of the supporting actors like Michael Loprete who plays Franki’s director.

Crawley plays Brandon Craig, a photographer who ends up with three girlfriends: his boss, a photo editor for a magazine, an undercover cop, and the rather psychotic star of an internet show. Soup of the Day is a series of episodes featuring Brandon dating his girlfriends and having weird moments with each until they find out they are dating the same man.

This comedy started as an episodic interactive internet show and its origins are visible in the full-length DVD movie version. For example, here is no doubt the scene where Wendy dresses up as a Vulcan for some Star Trek sex on Brandon’s birthday was probably a request from fans of the internet show and a major hit producer for the site. It is well done, including a close enough but not close enough to get sued version of the original Star Trek fight music.

There are some very funny scenes in Soup of the Day and some very good lines but unless you are devoted to the independent film genre it is not enough to make for a comedy that really works. Another problem is too many of the actors playing secondary characters are just bad.

The second Soup of the Day DVD features deleted scenes, the first 19 webepisodes of the internet version of Soup of the Day, a Behind the Soup documentary, and other fun stuff.

 

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