20131205: Comedy Review--The Brass Teapot

The Brass Teapot

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 101 minutes, comedy, fantasy, thriller.  Spoken word is in English.  Estimated budget, 900,000 USD.
2. IMDB: 6.3/10.0 from 5,704 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 26% on the meter; 50% liked it from 1,636 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.8/5.0 from 182,890 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Ramaa Mosley.
6. Starring: Juno Temple as Alice, Michael Angarano as John, Alexis Bledel as Peyton, Alia Shawkat as Louise, Bobby Moynihan as Chuck.


2. Setup and Plot
1. John goes to work at the Laurel Springs Office Building.  Alice goes to a job interview.  He gets a reprimand from the boss, she does not get the job. Their funds are already short.  So they go to a party and get drunk. They get T-boned by a truck.  It's amazing she was still alive, much less untouched.  Alice spots an antiques shop, and runs into it.  She steals a rather nice looking teapot.  The next day, she accidently burns herself (slightly); the teapot jiggles.  She looks inside and finds 200 USD.  She tries to replicate this, but hurt herself more. The pot gives her 700 USD.  She trips and falls; more money comes from the teapot.  About the same time, John gets fired.


2. John comes home to find the place messed up, and Alice bloodied in multiple places.  She eventually convinces him of the conceit of the film.  A harsh knee slam to his crotch was initially worth quite a bit of money.  John goes back to the place where Alice stole the teapot.  It is marked 'Closed' and is boarded up.  Very unfortunately, John goes on Antiques Roadshow and gets an appraisal.  A man of long Chinese heritage sees the show, and makes a new notation on a wall map.  He was not the only one who watched.  Clearly, they are screwed. 


3. They get into mainlining pain: tattoos, whipping, dental work without pain killers, burning flesh, and so on.  They have no explanations for getting out of debt without jobs. Two large Hasidic Jewish fellows drop by and beat the nonsense out of John, telling them that it was a family heirloom, and their relative had died.  They paid these folks off from the cash that John's beating generated.  The Chinese man tries to warn them, but they rebuff him.


4. They make investments that fail, and splurge on all sorts of things: a huge new house, clothes, restaurants.  An old acquaintence tries to steal it; the Jewish fellows break in to steal it.  Alice tries to beat up the Jewish guys who are buff and about six feet two.  She keeps the pot, but they do her some damage.


5. The diminishing returns start.  The same amount of pain endured results in less reward. Then they discover that if the teapot is near someone else's pain, they also get money.  Unfortunately, Alice tries hit and run to generate money.  They also discover that emotional pain generates cash.


6. Does the moral descent ever end?




3. Conclusions
1. I could have done without the endless river of PC hatred of men.  Major demerits to the director for the unnecessary contempt.
2. One line summary: Magic allows exchanging pain for money; how far will the protagonists go?
3. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 The introductory credits were absolutely beautiful.  Then there was the rest of the film, which was quite nicely shot.


2. Sound: 8/10 OK.


3. Acting: 2/10 Terrible.  Alexis Bledel was okay, but Juno Temple, Michael Angarano, and most of the supporting actors were indeed bad.


4. Screenplay: 6/10 A fairly sound story gets told through poor actors.