It’s OK. You can admit you’re only reading this because it’s about a movie called “Douchebag.” but it’s one of those terms that usually evades definition.
When asked how he defines a douchebag, though, co-writer and director Drake Doremus has an answer. “(A douchebag) is someone who’s obnoxious or annoying without trying to be malicious,” he said, during a post-screening question and answer session. Which makes sense, given the film’s protagonist.
But the word “douchebag” isn’t the universally effective pejorative that it is today because it makes sense. It’s edgy, and a filmmaker chasing buzz knows that. In fact, Doremus completely (and refreshingly) admits that that’s one of the reasons why he and his co-writers decided to title the film the way they did. “It’s helped get attention,” he said.
Another reason, of course, is that the main character is a total douchebag. Sam “Doesn’t Initially Seem Like the Titular Douchebag Except, Oh Wait, He Is” Nussbaum (Andrew Dickler) is about to get married. He hasn’t spoken to his younger brother, Thomas “Seems Like a Douchebag But Isn’t Really” Nussbaum (Ben York Jones) in about two years. When Sam’s fiancee (Marguerite Moreau) decides that it’s time the two ended their mutual grudge, a road trip that is, as one review quoted on the poster points out, distinctly reminiscent of 2004’s “Sideways” ensues.
They set out to find Tom’s long lost fifth grade love and in the process, rekindle their own relationship. They drive. They frolic. They are brotherly.
Except these bros – who you can tell are related because they both sport awkward ginger beards – get plastered off Miller High Life instead of expensive wine. And when cold-footed Sam drunkenly cheats on his fiancee, it’s with that chick who gives Zach Braff’s character drugs in “Garden State” (Amy Ferguson) rather than Sandra Oh.
Not to say that “Douchebag” is merely some kind of ironic, low-budget, hipster reboot of that critically beloved ode to friendship and booze culture, despite what the brothers’ facial hair and plaid suggest. While that might be an apt description to a certain extent, the film has its own fair share of clever moments that keep the 81-minute tour of SoCal from getting tedious.
The four filmmakers at a screening in San Francisco last Thursday evening described the movie as a true “passion project” and a “huge gamble” that paid off with its acceptance into the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
Producer Jonathan Schwartz, who is UC Berkeley alumnus, said that his time in Berkeley gave him “more of an indie sensibility.” This comes through in various aspects of the movie, from the use of HD video to the fact that much of the dialogue was, according to Schwartz and Doremus, improvised.
Although you’d think the “indie” results would be off-putting or amateurish, the knowledge that many of the one-liners were conceived on the spot actually makes them rather charming.
Similarly, the revelation that editor Andrew Dickler’s performance as Sam was his first as an actor confirms the unstudied, off-the-cuff quality to his acting as genuine. Trite lines like, “I’ve got a lot of shit to work out,” as spoken by the repentant Sam could be deal-breakers, but somehow, when you know they’re likely as organic as everyday speech, they don’t make your eyes roll quite so hard.
Maybe it shouldn’t make a difference – maybe the background shouldn’t determine your experience of a movie – but when your film is banking on the indictment of the protagonist’s pretension, your means had best be sincere.