{"id":7766,"date":"2020-03-23T03:26:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T03:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/?p=7766"},"modified":"2020-03-23T15:27:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T15:27:11","slug":"international-falls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/international-falls\/","title":{"rendered":"International Falls"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Even though this film has its funny moments, it sadly pulls back the curtain on an unhappy stand up comedian and a wannabe. Director Amber McGinnis, in her first feature, with Writer Thomas Ward creates some good character development, but the film has its flaws and is more a sarcastic look at comedy, with tragic overtones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim, Rob Huebel, (I Love You Man, The Descendants, The Goldbergs<\/i>) is the comedian touring in small-town hotel bars, landing in freezing cold International Falls, Minnesota. Dee, Rachael Harris (Lucifer, Suits The Hangover) is a painfully, pale, plain-looking working Mom and mother. She is the hotel front desk clerk who dreams of being a comedian. Their awkward conversation upon his checking in for Tim\u2019s big appearance helps them forge a connection about the business of comedy.[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7759″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7761″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7762″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]As she gives him a tour of the town, the conversation becomes more and more personal. He is a burned out performer who\u2019s\u00a0 <\/span>given up, and just stays on the road for a paycheck. He\u2019s past caring whether or not the audience likes his raunchy material. But Dee is fascinated and goes to see his mediocre show which only stokes her desire to get up on stage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given their personal marital situations, it\u2019s predictable that both of them yearn for something more than just a walk-in the park, which is another obvious part in this plot. In process, Dee learns about comedy from Tim as he tells her that jokes are built on truth. He shows her his notebook and tells her to write down everything she sees, because it will become grist for her act.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7760″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7764″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”7756″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]The weakest aspect of this storyline is its predictability. You\u2019ll pick up on the two major plot points well before they occur in the film. But McGinnis creates cute scenes showing the corny charm of International Falls, its Smoky the Bear Statue, and that \u201cmagnificent\u201d view across the river into Canada showing a huge, ugly factory. Plus you\u2019ll love the funny, friendly lady, Hazel (Mindy Sterling)\u00a0 <\/span>at the convenience store. Kevin Nealon turns up as the clueless town cop. He\u2019s another genial character in this film who is under utilized. Huebel and Harris work well together and as their characters became closer, their dialogue flowed more naturally. But without giving it away,\u00a0 <\/span>the final comedy club scene is unrealistic. Dee\u2019s first standup performance is far too perfect, too polished, too soon. International Falls may be charming, but this raw, raunchy, disturbing look at the standup world gets some laughs, but won\u2019t pack the house.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Outskirt Media 93 minutes\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Not rated \u00a0 \u00a0 Now on demand.[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dBDWNSU8UGA” el_width=”80″ align=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Even though this film has its funny moments, it sadly pulls back the curtain on an unhappy stand up comedian and a wannabe. Director Amber McGinnis, in her first feature, with Writer Thomas Ward creates some good character development, but the film has its flaws and is more a sarcastic look at comedy, with tragic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7766"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7771,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7766\/revisions\/7771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}