Kabluey (2007)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Scott Prendergast

Writer (WGA):

Scott Prendergast (written by)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Every family has a black sheep. This one is blue.

Plot:

Inept Salman comes to help his sister-in-law tend to his holy terror nephews while Salman's brother is off fighting in Iraq...

Plot Keywords:

Cheating Wife

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Lisa Kudrow	...	Leslie
Scott Prendergast	...	Salman
Christine Taylor	...	Betty
Conchata Ferrell	...	Kathleen
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Brad
Chris Parnell	...	Frank
Teri Garr	...	Suze
Angela Sarafyan	...	Ramona
Patricia Buckley	...	Elizabeth P.
Cameron Wofford	...	Cameron
Landon Henninger	...	Lincoln
Raquel Gavia	...	Esme
Bill Toney	...	Thermos Man
Nick Holden	...	Leonard
Matt Hensarling	...	Jared

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual material including a crude reference, and brief strong language.

Runtime:

USA:86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Austin, Texas, USA

Company:

Whitewater Films

Trivia:

Characters "Cameron" and "Lincoln" are based on the Director's real life nephews Wilson and Logan. The real boys appear alongside the child actors portraying them in the large birthday party scene.

Quotes:

Leslie: Do you want the tent?

Movie Connections:

References The Delicious (2003)

A strong, little comedy filled with a lot of heart. One of 2008's best

I saw Kabluey, and after hearing many good things about it, I have to say it probably is one of 2008's best surprises.

Technically, it is from 2007, but it came out this year. It is a very genuine little independent comedy with a lot of heart. There are a lot of films like that out there, but this one stands out. The screenplay is very well written. It has a lot of laugh-out-loud laughs, and some laughs that you wonder how much they make sense with the story. It has some flaws, but overall, it has great developed characters, characters that sometimes may not always be likable. It is a story about how a mother's brother-in-law has to help her raise her kids, and also raise some money, since her husband is at war in Iraq. Throughout this story, we see a lot of events that change her and her brother-in-law. It is, overall, a black, sometimes, dark, comedy film. It has a lot of hidden themes about how the war impacts family, and also about loyalty and responsibility. It is sometimes uneven, and sometimes some scenes are too overfilled with humor, but when its good, it's really good.

Part of the reason this film works well is because of the great acting. Scott Prendergast plays his character of the loser brother-in-law Salman very well, and he makes my line-up of Best Actor(but will eventually fall out). But Lisa Kudrow is the one that gives the monumental performance. She has less scenes than Prendergast, but the scenes she has her character is very in depth. She has to give her character of Leslie a lot, real humanity, pain and exhaustion for her kids, and also sort of depressed, stressed, and sometimes even unlikeable. She really reminds me of a lot of real life mothers that get stressed out easily. I have never seen Kudrow like this, it's really a great performance, a subtle one. As of now, she is my Best Actress winner, and I think she might stay in my line-up in the end of the year, if not then top 10 for sure. I think she deserves Oscar Buzz.

Overall, a great little movie. Better than films that really are not always that good(Juno), and just as great as Little Miss Sunshine. I think the Academy should keep this film's screenplay, and Lisa Kudrow, for consideration. For those who have not seen it, please see it, makes a lot of the films this year look bad.