Salt Lake Tribune Review
Ari Gold made a great short film in 1999, "Culture," that came with a funny manifesto that said all movies should star
Ari Gold and be one minute long. It turns out that one minute is the limit of Gold's onscreen charisma, in this slapdash parody of musical underdog movies, partly filmed in Utah. Gold, who wrote and directed, plays Power, the dorky son of a New Mexico copper miner (
Michael McKean) who dreams of being an air-drummer. Gold attempts to show Power as a "Napoleon Dynamite"-like charmer, but Gold's spastic performance induces more cringes than smiles. There's also an array of oddball characters -- from the deaf missionary (
Shoshannah Stern) who falls for Power to the spoiled pop star (Adrien Grenier) who faces Power in the inevitable air-drumming showdown -- but none of them elicit any laughs.
-- Sean P. Means
The rundown: A small-town guy (
Ari Gold, who also wrote and directed) dreams of being a champion air-drummer in this unfunny comedy, filmed partly in Utah. 88 minutes. (SPM)
Synopsis: Power is a worker at the mine whose love of drums and lack of musical skill has turned him into the ridiculed air drummer of his small town. But when a strike is called at the mine, Power discovers an underground subculture of air-drummers who just might hold the key to changing the world. Power's journey across America brings him face-to-face with his town's greatest enemy, and allows him to discover the beat within his own heart.
