| Gentlemen Broncos | |
|---|---|
Promotional film poster |
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| Directed by | Jared Hess |
| Produced by | Mike White |
| Written by | Jared and Jerusha Hess |
| Starring | Michael Angarano Jemaine Clement Sam Rockwell Jennifer Coolidge Suzanne May Halley Feiffer |
| Music by | David Wingo |
| Cinematography | Munn Powell |
| Editing by | Yuka Ruell |
| Studio | HH Films |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 24, 2009 (Fantastic Fest) October 30, 2009 (United States) |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million[1] |
| Box office | $118,192[1] |
Gentlemen Broncos is a 2009 comedy film written by Jared and Jerusha Hess, and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Sam Rockwell and Jennifer Coolidge.
Contents |
Benjamin Purvis (Michael Angarano) lives with his mother Judith (Jennifer Coolidge), who designs tacky clothes and makes rock hard popcorn balls. Judith and Benjamin make ends meet by working at a women's retail clothing store. Benjamin spends his spare time writing science fiction stories, and he has recently completed a story called "Yeast Lords" that centers on a hero named Bronco, modeled after his long-dead father.
At a two-day writing camp for aspiring fantasy and science fiction authors, Benjamin attends lectures by his idol Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement). Chevalier announces a contest for the writers, where the winner's story will be published nationally. After encouragement from fellow camper Tabatha (Halley Feiffer), Benjamin submits "Yeast Lords". Tabatha shows the story to her friend Lonnie Donaho (Héctor Jiménez) who runs an ultra low-budget video production company. Lonnie gives Benjamin a post-dated check for $500 and begins adapting "Yeast Lords" into a film.
Throughout the movie, portions of "Yeast Lords" are enacted as Benjamin imagines it. Bronco (Sam Rockwell) is infinitely masculine, and he valiantly struggles with a villain over yeast production. As Chevalier reviews the stories from the campers, he gets a call from his publisher, rejecting his latest manuscript. Panicked, he picks up Benjamin's story, and it sparks his imagination. Chevalier changes Bronco into Brutus, an extremely effeminate transgendered hero, but otherwise leaves the story intact. His publisher loves it, and the novel is rushed into production.
Benjamin is sickened to see how badly Donaho has adapted his work, and he abruptly leaves the local premiere of the film with Tabatha. They go to a bookstore where he discovers Chevalier's plagiarism. He confronts Chevalier at a local book signing, assaulting him with some merchandise Chevalier had offered him in exchange for keeping his theft quiet. In jail, Judith comes to visit her son to give him his birthday present. She hands him a box of manuscripts, all officially bound by the Writers Guild of America. She explains that she has been registering all his stories with them since he was seven years old, thinking they would make a nice keepsake for his children.
"Yeast Lords" is one of the registered stories. The film ends with copies of Chevalier's novel being replaced on store shelves with Benjamin's. Over the closing credits, he sits and proudly watches a fashion show featuring his mother's designs.
In December 2007, JoBlo.com reported that Jared and Jerusha Hess had signed with Fox Searchlight Pictures to produce Gentlemen Broncos, based on a spec script they had written. The deal called for Jared Hess to direct and Mike White, who co-wrote Nacho Libre with them, to produce. Filming began in March 2008 in Utah.[4] Much of the film was shot in Tooele, UT. In early August 2008, work on an Internet viral marketing began, which had a video introducing the character of Ronald Chevalier.[5] A second video was released in October 2008.[6] A trailer was released on August 19, 2009. Some of the artwork in the opening credits is by fantasy and science fiction artist David Lee Anderson.
Gentlemen Broncos was intended to be released theatrically on October 30, 2009, but due to poor reviews the national release was pulled from theatres. It is the third film directed by Jared Hess.
The film received mostly negative reviews and holds a 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 78 reviews by critics.[7] Selected top critics gave the film 8% based on 24 reviews.[8] Metacritic gave it a generally unfavorable 28 out of 100 based on 21 reviews.[9]
Although unpopular with critics the film has gained a cult following.
The film is nominated for the Podcast Awards.[10]
Gentlemen Broncos was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 2, 2010.[11]
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