Livin' tha Life

Consider the facts from the director's commentary: this was shot by a first time filmmaker on digital video with a shooting budget of $400, using comedians who've never acted before found in a local club in Los Angeles and allowing them to improvise based on a skeletal plot structure... And yet, despite all the places where this film can go SO wrong and remain ignored at the video store, it would be a crime not to check it out. There is A LOT of surprisingly funny moments here. The foul mouthed grade schooler bullying adults out of money. The barber who can't focus on cutting hair for want of running Yo Momma jokes on a customer. The Crazy Uncle with Vietnam flashbacks... More... And the chemistry between the two leads is startlingly rich and natural-- they work well together. Because the moments of physical comedy here are at times so broad, so slapstick, so vaudevillian, it made the film feel old fashioned-- that this could just as well been an Abbott and Costello flick remade by John Singleton. With all comedies, not all the jokes work (the crabs subplot? eh!) and this isn't one of the Greatest Films Ever... But it really charmed me and had several moments that I kept going back to over and over. It ain't worth an Oscar, but its well worth renting!

Given the budget and the inexperience of everyone involved, Livin' tha Life could have been worse. Jamal wants to be Chris Tucker (whom I've always found very annoying), as a previous commentator has noted, but Peanut (Edward D. Smith), while some of his (over)reactions go on way too long (a director's problem), has some comparatively subtle and funny moments, such as when he is trying to instruct Jamal on the proper method of smoking a joint with a buddy. Throughout, he is usually more poised and self-possessed than Jamal, which could have been the germ of a nice exploration of the contrasts in the relationship but wasn't developed very far.

But the inexperience of the writer/director/cinematographer/etc. is no excuse for his inattention. Has he ever seen a movie? Faces are important! Has he ever heard of a closeup? Even Ed Wood could do a closeup. I don't think it's much of a budget issue. I could only give a general description of what any of the actors look like, and not just because of no closeups, but the lighting ...! Lights for outdoor shooting may cost too much, but you can make a reflector with pieces of paper! That would have required moving the camera closer to keep the reflector out of the shot, helping to solve the closeup problem at the same time. If that's too technical you can turn the actors around so they are not in shadow, or you can expose for the shadows, and if it hadn't been shot in L.A. I'd say take advantage of cloudy days. It goes without saying that the movies this one steals from are all, with the possible exception of Weekend at Bernie's, better than this one, but Livin' tha Life would have left a much better impression if it hadn't made the viewer squint all the way through just to catch a glimpse of whatever the human element might have been.

P.S. The scene in the barbershop is just stupid.

This little independent video was one of the funniest rentals I have ever seen. It is very rare that comedy is used as cinema verity, but this project fits the genre perfectly. If you're bored with the on-slaught of "Ghetto Comedies", check this out. Filmed in an almost "reality-TV" setting, the viewer seems to be the third-eye in the character's mishaps. The scene with the little boy in the Korean market is a film gem. I accidentally saw that small clip before I saw the video and was quite surprised to see it in its entirety. There is dialogue in this movie that could potentially become standard slang phrases. I wonder what the director could've done with more money. He definitely needs another chance. It also reminds me of a modern day colorized Charlie Chaplin movie with a dash of Cheech and Chong and a little Richard Pryor on the side. If you're tired of the big screen flops like "Soul Plane", etc. this should give you hope that a better product in on the horizon.

I have NEVER EVER seen such a bad movie before. The scene where they shoot some guy.. The pistol don`t even shoot. Damn that is baad. The scene with the boy is even not that good. no script, not any good sound, not anything good to say about this movie..

my friends and i watched this movie last night. it was pretty incredible. by all means, this was probably the worst movie i have ever seen. at first, it was tolerable. it stunk of BAD IMPROV but it was pretty friggin hilarious, despite the scenes being too long & drawn out and the terrible quality (i read $400 budget above... sounds about right) of the film itself.

the biggest problem came from the lack of a script; with a background in improv, i know how hard it can be to keep scenes short & efficient. what happened in this film was that the actors were left to improvise the scenes and they didn't know when to stop, they just kept going for ages on stupid topics. at first i thought this was because the movie was short and they needed long, useless scenes to flesh it out. as the movie progressed, i realized it was just a really bad movie.

there were a lot of parts where i could see that the film maker had a really good idea for a shot but not the resources (or talent!?) to pull it off effectively. a lot of the scenes were taken from a single shot (cause, you know, improv) for what felt like a really long time. so boring! if you can stand to put up with and hour and a half of terrible improv, watch it. it's really funny at parts but also really stupid and annoying. the acting ranges from alright to absolutely terrible. it seemed like the only good parts were the parts that really had nothing to do with the main plot; the ballsy kid who swore lots, the barbershop, etc etc.

but yeah. painfully bad. like, i was literally hurting. after an hour or so, my friends and i just got bored and left.