We Make Movies

Indie filmmakers making a self-deprecating film about indie filmmakers? What's not to love? Director Matt Tory takes the limitations of presumedly budget-restricted filmmaking and weaponizes them by leveraging the mockumentary format to terrific effect in his consistently funny We Make Movies.

This is a film that's fun, smart, and knowingly stupid. Tory - who also stars - collects a cast of mostly lads around him that in their pack mentality are immediately familiar. We've seen them in high school, at the frat house, behind the camera on film sets - and through Tory's lens, they're completely endearing characters. Comparisons to other movies aren't always necessary, but there's something vaguely Trey Parker and "Cannibal! The Musical" about Tory's comedy - laddish characters, dishing out the smart and the stupid in equal measure, and at a consistently high level.

Here's hoping Tory's comedic ambition - his keen sense of irony and self-deprecation - soaks through to audiences that often don't want anything deeper than a given on-the-surface punchline. If that's you, rest assured there's plenty of joyous, heartfelt comedy to live off in We Make Movies; a film that consistently pulls out sheepish grins and slaps them all over our faces.