[yasr_overall_rating]
“Last Supper” is a funny, touching fairy tale about two romantic and ambitious lunatics who escape a mental institution with a video camera and set out to make a movie about the romantic quest to rescue a princess and be rewarded with a magical kiss.
Eddie Griffin is a talented comedic actor, with the right material. He has made me laugh in some of his previous movie outings including “Undercover Brother” and, believe it or not, the “Deuce Bigalow” movies. He was one of the funnier aspects of those films but with his new movie, “Last Supper”, he stars as Fumnanya, a supposed African Prince who was abandoned by his wealthy and aristocratic father. He resides in a mental institution in California along with his roommate Andy (Josh Meyers). Fumnanya is determined to escape, save a woman from mortal danger and in return, receive a kiss from her, which will lead to them falling in love, marriage and their happily ever after. He is the hapless romantic
One day, Fumnanya just happens by Doctor Tucker’s (Yves Bright) office, the man responsible for keeping him institutionalized and lo and behold, he is having sex with his favorite nurse, Betty (Mindy Robinson), while a photo of Tucker’s wife watches on. Later, Fumnanya blackmails Betty about her and Doctor Tucker’s indiscretions and she agrees to let he and Andy escape. In the process, Andy takes a video camera that Doctor Tucker likes to use to record he and Betty and Fumnanya is steadfast that Andy film his impending rescue of his soon-to-be love. The only problem is, he needs to find a woman first.
After a few embarrassing episodes which result in him, naturally, getting slapped in the face, he finds Candy (Najarra Townsend), a hooker with a heart of gold. Initially, she despises him but this being a movie with lots of time to spare, he inevitably grows on her. Come to find out, Candy has a horrible pimp in Rocco (Dave Vescio) and after Fumnanya saves her from him, he feels ready to marry her but there’s only one thing standing in the way (other than a decent script) and that is Candy wants to kill herself. It’s never really explained why but she does so in the process of shopping for rope from which she will hang herself, the hapless duo film it all and it winds up on YouTube where it goes viral.
Naturally, after Doctor Tucker has informed the police of the duo’s escape, the authorities believe they are making a snuff film so undoubtedly they set out to thwart everyone’s plans, disrupting Fumnanya’s agenda where high jinks and hilarity ensue. Well, not really because the film is just plain terrible and not in the least bit funny. Most of the ‘actors’, and I use that word sparingly, just speak their lines, with no hint of emotion. Rocco, Candy’s pimp, is obviously a bad man and how do we know this? He is scruffy, wears a medallion accompanied by a 1970s ‘pimp’ leather jacket and scowls a lot. He might as well have walked into his first scene carrying a placard that stated “I am the film’s antagonist.”
In all fairness, Mr. Griffin and Ms. Townsend are the only two cast members who legitimately seem to be applying themselves to their roles which is a pity because there’s nothing worse than watching an actor try to give a good performance in a bad movie. The film is, quite simply, awful. There wasn’t one scene that made me laugh and the audio was terrible too. In one scene you can barely hear what the actor’s are saying and the next you’re reaching for the remote to turn it down it’s so loud. This is constant throughout the entire movie and there are complete scenes where we have no audio whatsoever.
The quintessential aerial shots as we look down on the streets of L.A. are usually accompanied by music or street sound effects, you know, cars, traffic, police sirens, here, nothing. And I mean, absolutely nothing. I got the feeling that the film was still a work in progress and why you would submit an incomplete film for consideration of a review, is beyond me. By all means, with a completed film, allow people to critique the story, the acting, the direction and so forth but don’t allow your movie to be picked apart for the most obvious reasons that even first-year film students could do better with, ie: bad audio, no audio, etc. And don’t ask me how the producers were able to obtain Penny Marshall, even if it is a glorified cameo, I’m still trying to figure that out.
“Last Supper” is currently doing the film festival circuit
