Douchebag: refers to a person, usually male, with a variety of negative qualities.

 

About the Film

Douchebag: the term refers to a person, usually male, with a variety of negative qualities, specifically arrogance, and engaging in obnoxious and / or irritating actions without malicious intent.

Acclaimed by critics and audiences alike on the occasion of its world premiere in competition at Sundance 2010, DOUCHEBAG is the second feature by 27 year-old writer/director Drake Doremus, whose first film, Spooner, was presented at Slamdance in 2009.

This was the website created for the roll out of the movie. The content is from the site's 2009-2010 archived pages. I saw the film at Sundance and enjoyed this pleasant slacker comedy. I returned to Baltimore to pack up for my favorite Baltimore movers who were arriving in two weeks to take all my stuff to Washington DC where I was to start my graduate studies at Georgetown. I love this company. Not only have I used them several times, but once I recommended them to friends. They have utilized the company's moving and or storage services, posting Yelp reviews raving about their customer service and the professionalism. At the first of several "pack to move" parties I had so friends would help with the packing, I told them about Douchebag, saying that if they wanted to catch it, the movie was having a limited opening in 2010. Recently I looked to see if it were available on Netflix. Nope! But it is available at picaflix.com/ in HD. Well, read the reviews and you decide if it's worth your time.

TOMATOMETER& CRTICS 57% / TOMATOMETER AUDIENCE REVIEWERS 80%

A loud-mouthed lout has a less than cordial reunion with his brother in this independent comedy drama from director Drake Doremus. Sam Nussbaum (Andrew Dickler) is an insufferably opinionated loser who has somehow managed to charm a beautiful young woman, Steph (Marguerite Moreau), who has agreed to marry him. Steph is puzzled when she learns that Sam hasn't invited his brother, Tom (Ben York Jones), to the upcoming wedding; Sam doesn't want to talk about it, so Steph decides to surprise her fiancé by arranging for Tom to come to Los Angeles, where the couple lives. Sam and Tom had a falling out years before that neither of them likes to talk about, and as the siblings get reacquainted, the emotional distance between them is clear. When Tom mentions in passing that the only girl he ever loved was a classmate from grade school, Sam insists they drop everything and set out to find her; this leads to a grand-scale road trip that at once brings the brothers together and reinforces their opinions of one another, while also giving Sam a reason to postpone a wedding he no longer wants. Douchebag received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Rating: NR
Genre: Comedy , Drama
Directed By:    Drake Doremus
Written By:     Andrew Dickler , Drake Doremus , Lindsay Stidham , Jonathan Schwartz
In Theaters:     Oct 1, 2010 limited
Runtime: 81 minutes
Studio: Paladin

+++

 

"One of the funniest bits ever is the skit Andrew does with Drake. They're wearing crazy fat suits, long wigs, pj bottoms and Batman t shirts. They're trying to make a purchase decision on which new Batman t shirt they wanted since they could only afford one, but wanted so many. They're looking for shirts on their phones and end up on a website that has such a large selection that they can't make up their minds. After a hilarious back and forth about t shirt sizes and philosophy, the real Batman appears and tells them, "Despite what you may have been told, Batman never wears any Batman shirts!" This guy, Andrew (not Batman) has a knack for the funny stuff and this film is not the only example." Roger Sherman

 

REVIEWS FROM ROTTEN TOMATO

October 29, 2010

Steven Rea | Inquirer Movie Critic

Little Film is Wincingly Funny

As anthropological study, as a short-storylike glimpse into a character better observed from afar - or through the lens of a jumpy digital video camera - Douchebag is undeniably fascinating.

A little indie with a mumblecore vibe (scruffy dudes in their late 20s, talky and improvised, super-low-budget), director Drake Doremus' feature lasts all of 71 minutes. And by the time you're through with bearded, balding Sam Nussbaum (Andrew Dickler), that's plenty.

Sam lives in L.A. with the impossibly cute Steph (Marguerite Moreau). They're about to get married, and she wonders why Sam's brother, an artist, isn't coming to the wedding - or why her fiance hasn't even talked to him for years. Family is important at a time like this, so she takes it upon herself to find Tom (Ben York Jones) and bring him home.

"For her sake, let's just pretend to like each other," Sam whispers to Tom, off on their own after the groom-to-be has gotten over the shock of seeing his estranged sib.

It takes a road trip on the part of the brothers - to Palm Springs, then to San Diego - to learn why Tom and Sam haven't kept in touch. And why Doremus' often funny, just-as-often wincingly painful film bears the title it does.

No, actually, that becomes apparent much earlier on, when Sam snaps just because his brother doesn't own a credit card.

Dickler, gangly and intense, shares writing credit with Doremus and two others on Douchebag, and his riffy, off-the-rails rants and reckless energy certainly have a magnetic pull. Jones plays the sensitive younger sibling with a watchful, geeky air, and Moreau's cheer and charm give way to something sadder and more perceptive as events unfold.

There are instances when the seams and stitching of modest construction reveal themselves, breaking the otherwise realistic (and voyeuristic) experience. But mostly, Doremus' movie rings true, as some truly jerky behavior ensues.

+++

October 28, 2010

Colin Covert Top Critic | Minneapolis Star Tribune

Chemistry fuels road-trip comedy

Two brothers, one marriage-bound, hit the road and find funny patches along the way

★★ 1/2 out of 4 stars

An insubstantial but pleasant slacker comedy, "Douchebag" takes two feuding adult brothers, sticks them in a car and sends them on a wild goose chase across California.

Sam and Tom (Andrew Dickler and Ben York Jones) are uneasily reunited when Sam's fiancée (Marguerite Moreau) insists on a show of family unity at the wedding. To make Tom feel less like an odd man out, the couple urge him to invite his one true love, a fifth-grade classmate he hasn't seen in years. Groom-to-be Sam jumps at the chance to drive his brother on the search for the girl of Tom's dreams. It soon becomes clear that big brother is coming along not so much to support Tom as to escape the pressure of his impending marriage.

It's a fairly standard odd-couple setup, with bickering siblings discovering that, despite their conflicting natures, they really do like and respect each other. "Douchebag" misses being a formula movie -- narrowly -- because the script and performances make the leads into specific, eccentric individuals whose relationship becomes more interesting as the story noodles along.

The setup favors Sam's viewpoint that Tom is a lazy, pampered phony, sponging off their parents while pretending to be a serious artist. Self-effacing Tom is appalled by Sam's girl-chasing ways, and appalled that such a weedy, insensitive guy could have such a high success rate. Little by little, "Douchebag" redefines their relationship. By the time the film is over 81 minutes later, the dynamic between the two has shifted amusingly.

Writer/director Drake Doremus has created a funny movie where the humor comes from the nature of the characters rather than obvious comic setups. Dickler and Jones have an unforced chemistry, working smoothly together to get laughs without trying to be funny.

Like their performances, the film has an unforced naturalism. Doremus prefers colorful, digressive and silly character-driven vignettes to rigid plotting. This is the kind of film where a pompous, self-professed vegetarian reveals his true personality by tearing into a hamburger when the woman in his life isn't looking. The film, modest in scale and micro-budgeted, feels more like an appetizer than a proper meal, but it's tasty nonetheless.

+++

October 3, 2010

Cole Smithey

Not Rated. 71 mins. (D-) (Zero Stars - out of five/no halves)

Mumblecore is similar to the defunct Grunge movement that outlasted its cause by half a decade. The indy-sub-genre could be summed up as "lazy, ignorant, and unkempt Granola hippy dudes daring each other to new ethical lows." The idiot of the film's title is vegetarian Sam (Andrew Dickler), a mean spirited hippy dude on the verge of marrying above his class to kind-hearted Steph (Marguerite Moreau). Since a falling out two-years earlier, Sam hasn't spoken to his artistically inclined brother Tom (Ben York Jones). Steph retrieves Tom from his home in another town to bring him to the wedding six days early. Romantically disinclined twentysomething Tom hasn't had a girlfriend since Mary Berger in fifth grade. Sam seizes on the opportunity to insist that the brothers go on a road trip to locate Mary Barger for Tom to invite to attend the wedding. If watching inarticulate men dressed and acting like eight-year-old boys appeals to you then "Douchebag" might be your bag. At least the filmmakers titled it properly.


+++

October 28, 2010

Moira MacDonald  |Top Critic Seattle Times

Despite the brief running time, audiences will likely lose interest before the film's speedy conclusion; turns out the most unexpected -- and entertaining -- thing about "Douchebag" is its title.

+++

October 3, 2010

Avi Offer | NYC Movie Guru

Sam Nussbaum (Andrew Dickler) doesn’t expect his younger brother, Tom (Ben York Jones), to come to his upcoming wedding. Merely one day before the wedding, Steph (Marguerite Moreau), Sam’s fiancée, drives all the way to Tom’s home to pick him up and re-unite him with Sam. Tom realizes that he needs a date for the wedding, so Sam agrees to drive him across the state of California in search of his long-lost love, Mary Barger, who hasn’t seen since the fifth grade. A web search results in multiple addresses where a Mary Barger resides in, so Sam and Tom visit each one—assuming that she’s alive and single. Along the way, the brothers experience some sibling rivalry and, to make matters worse, Steph love and trust of Sam begins to wane. Will the wedding take place or will it be cancelled? Is Tom merely quixotic when it comes to his search for Mary? Whom among the two brothers is the titular douchebag? The screenplay by director/co-writer Drake Doremus and co-writers Lindsay Stidham, Jonathan Schwartz and Andrew Dickler could have been a big, uneven mess, but, fortunately, it remains focused on the relationship between Sam and Tom as well as Sam and Steph. Each brother’s complex personality comes out during their journey together. There’s more to Sam and Tom than meets the eye because they have good and bad qualities that make you like them one minute and dislike them the next. It’s easy to see why Steph might question her love of Sam because, after all, he’s not particularly trustworthy or loyal for that matter. He claims to be a vegetarian, yet he unashamedly eats a hamburger. He may be about to get married, but he certainly doesn’t behave like he’s engaged around other women. It’s not quite clear, though, what Steph saw in Sam to begin with, so a little bit more backstory about how they met would have been helpful. Newcomers Andrew Dickler and Ben York Jones both give natural performances that cover a wide range of emotions convincingly. Sure, Douchebag doesn’t offer any real surprises or tread new ground when it comes to indie road movies where characters bond and experience epiphanies along the way---i.e., The Other Side of Paradise and Easier with Practice. If only the third act wouldn’t have been so lazy and rushed, Douchebag would have been a much more rewarding, memorable and powerful drama. At a running time of only 1 hour and 16 minutes, Douchebag is a focused and mostly compelling drama with interesting characters and very natural, raw performances, but its lazy, rushed third act sinks it into mediocrity and blandness.

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