Most people know me to be a little bit quirky. *laughter comes from the back of the room*. Okay, very quirky. As to be expected, there are a lot of quirky movies out there for me to watch. But more often than not, most of those movies go way beyond anything I’ve ever thought was entertaining. Now here I am on the cusp of another review and I get a quirky romantic comedy called Spooner. I just hope that the movie I’m about to watch doesn’t involve cutlery and other assorted kitchen gadgets.
Herman Spooner (played by Matthew Lilliard) is a salesman at Manfretti Auto. He’s unfortunately not very good at what he does. Dennis & Alice, his father & mother(played by Christopher McDonald and Kate Burton)love him but want him out of the house by the time he turns 30 (which is just a few days away).
His boss, Stan (played by Shea Whigham) has placed him on probation and sends him out for remedial activities. But one day as Herman comes back from getting the boys lunch, he spots a woman, Rose (played by Nora Zehetner) whose car has broken down. He offers to get her a tow truck and a meal. They strike up a conversation and we quickly realize that this could be going somewhere.
While the car gets fixed, Rose stays at the Aztec Hotel. Meanwhile, Herman is forced to go out on a blind date with Linda (played by Wendi McLendon-Covey) fixed up by her mother. That’s when he spots Rose and they strike up another conversation talking about her car when Linda butts in and makes him taker her home.
Herman races back to the hotel and cleans up. He also finds a way to get Rose’s room number. Soon, he finds the room and knocks on the door. She questions why he is there but invites him inside anyway. They share a drink together and talk for a while. They really hit it off and there is some obvious chemistry going on. But can Herman get his act together and make sure he doesn’t screw this one up?
Herman is a quirky man-child and honestly Rose is one too (well woman-child anyway). They are a perfect match and it succeeds at being a very sweet love story. There are a few odd twists and turns but the thing I do like about this movie is that it doesn’t try to get completely crazy and sticks to getting Herman and Rose closer together.
One can get frustrated from time to time with Herman’s habitual lying and it really doesn’t add a lot to the story but it fits into the ending when everything comes full circle. The film is also trying to fit in a very neat 83 minutes, so it flies by awfully fast. It could have benefitted from a little bit of exposition but its decently entertaining nevertheless.
Video
The video is framed in 1.78:1 widescreen presentation. The picture is fairly decent, there is actually a good amount of color for an auto dealership. Occasionally, when they go to shoot on location there will be some noticeable sun spots and splotchs in the print. It does help that Rose is extremely easy on the eyes (which reminds me to go find other movies with her in them), but the picture’s video quality is satisfactory.
Audio
For the audio portion, we get a 5.1 (2.0 also included) English Dolby Digital Track. The track is fairly low in volume and a lot of times has this echo vacuum quality. One should be able to make it through the dialogue with little problem. Music is used in a lot of background environments and is punchy but not too bad. Sound effects are okay but since most of this controlled by dialogue, it isn’t entirely necessary. Subtitles are not included.
Special Features
- Preview: Year of the Carnivore, The People I’ve Slept With, and The Zombie Farm
Final Thoughts
I was honestly a little bit surprised with Spooner. It isn’t overly complicated but sticks to moving the relationship along and not so much the quirkiness. I still think it could have benefitted with a little more time and possibly a different ending. The video and audio is fine but do the job. The lack of extras is also disapointing but this would be a good Netflix rental and make for an enjoyable evening. Recommended.
