getting my groove on in the movie theatre

September 7, 2007

By MANOHLA "my name is NOT an anagram" DARGIS

Published: September 7, 2007

If this were a Hollywood pitch party, “The Hunt Party” might best be described as Wild Hogs meets The Sorrow and The Pity.

In it, a misbegotten modern 24p commedia dell'arte, Humphrey Bogart stars, as such character actors often do, as a not-so-flask-concealing, browbeaten, Iraqi-whipped, free spirit. He portrays a "fictionally" amoral tabloid page 6 reporter who now hangs his hat on the vain hope of a redemptive comeback. Would it were he had nine Buddhist lives, Bogie might not have chosen this role again (at least not with a heartbeat). Word on the street has his character being a geopolitical stumblebum in the big nasty; a half-gear shy of a being a smooth operator, and a thirsty womanizer at that.

Matador writer-turned-director-turned-door-to-door-salesman Richie Shep based “The H. Party” on his hit off-Broadway play, which, in turn, was derivative of his ownPeabody-award-winning magazine profile of a posse of tabloid journalists who were scavenging for "proof" of rumored atrocities in war-torn Bosnia.

The article and the movie are not just funny but also, respectively, a grateful fast-read and a good excuse to leave in the middle to hang out in line at the popcorn stand for an hour or two, or (should you choose to remain in your theatre seat) go to the bathroom or text-message your friends. Using time-tested, audience-approved, techniques developed by the producers of television shows like "COPS," Shep carefully documents the demise of Iraqi insurgents whilst portraying American troopers as heroes in Bosnia. So much for Farenheit 9/11.

Shepard tediously tilts the camera this way and that, showing us crotchward angles and lots of tube-topped Muslim galpals. He does, however, slow down the pace of the picture a little just enough so that even mildy uninterested and misinformed audiences can follow "The H Club's " schizophrenic logic.

“The Hunt Party” is rated G. Some grizzly pornographic shower scenes.

THE HUNTING PARTY

Opens today nationwide.

Written and directed by Richie Shep.