Friday, June 9, 2006

Bickford Schmeckler's Cool Ideas

1-Bickford and Sara enjoy the moment.jpg

Patrick Fugit is Bickford Schmeckler, a loner who lives in the basement of a busy frat house, writing down his "cool ideas" in a large metal book. Olivia Wilde is the beautiful (and smart) girl who throws his world into a tailspin by stealing it from his room. When further mischief gets his book published and distributed around campus, Bickford must come to terms with his own behavior, and decide whether to live his ideas or keep them locked away in his book.

This film is for the most part, funny and light-hearted. Director Scott Lew packs a lot of typical college humor in (party mishaps, D&D geeks who hang out in a comic shop - one of which is John Cho from Harold & Kumar!, etc.), but it all works -- I even found the bits with Matthew Lillard as a campus misfit named "Spaceman" enjoyable. Where it goes slightly awry is when it tries to introduce some seriousness in the form of why Bickford is so socially-challenged. Adding in emotional conflicts seemed to halt the story and put too dark a slant on the intent.
Still, Fugit pulls it all off with his sideways smile and adorable quirkiness (although, I am starting to wonder if he falls down in every movie on purpose, or if he's just clumsy). So, if you're in the mood for something cute, funny, and light, Bickford is good for a once-over. It will make you laugh, and it's worth watching just to see Fugit do what he does best.
One more added note: Bickford had the BEST tee shirts ever. They should get to marketing those -- I bet they'd rake in a fortune just from the Seattle Hipster market alone.

No comments:

Post a Comment