Director Angus Benfield Cast Angus Benfield (Inventing Anna)
Zeen_Atoms
Director Angus Benfield Cast Angus Benfield (Inventing Anna), Brian Doyle-Murray (Caddyshack), Kathy Garver (Family Affair), Plastic Martyr (Battle for…
Director Angus Benfield
Cast Angus Benfield (Inventing Anna), Brian Doyle-Murray (Caddyshack), Kathy Garver (Family Affair), Plastic Martyr (Battle for Pandora), Melissa Disney (Superman vs The Elite)
"Synopsis: In the style of The Office and Schitt’s Creek comes a fun new comedy about searching for happiness, “Yellow Bird.” This heartfelt film, set in a small country-town grocery store named "The Yellow Bird," is centered around once successful PR specialist Jake (Angus Benfield), now a stock boy in his mid-forties, struggling with his sobriety, and his conscience in the guise of a gnome (Brian Doyle-Murray) who is determined to remind Jake of all his failings, including his marriage. Jake’s mother, Rachel Rush (Kathy Garver), is struggling with Alzheimer's and is living in an RV. Rachel is holding onto a past she remembers as much more adventurous and exciting than this life and is determined to find it once again, and Scotty, the protagonistic store manager who is stuck in a job his father wants him to be in, and so makes all the fun and quirky employees at “The Yellow Bird” miserable in return."
Yellow Bird is among the recently selected catalog at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival - Independent Film Showcase.
There are points where Yellow Bird begins to flow toward a direction but seemingly stumbles into the plot as it continuously fails to recognize itself; does it want to convey an overall positive message? It's clear that the goal was to convey a positive message but the attempt gets lost in translation, drowned out by the way body & age shaming is rampant throughout, with women being the primary target. The positive representation of women in the story sees them serve as props & plot devices, they essentially serve as mirrors for our protagonist to prove to us that he in fact, is a good man.
The talking garden gnome, voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray, is treated more as an afterthought which makes less sense as the story continues on, leaving an uncomfortable space between what was intended to be funny & a strange choice to utilize an unnamed mental illness and call it his conscience. At the end I was left asking these questions: Did happiness cure his budding schizophrenia? Was it schizophrenia? What other illnesses cause a person to believe a ceramic garden gnome is verbally abusing them? There was no sense of closure there.
As far as production value, the camera, audio, & acting were quite good.
Jake (Angus Benfield) does seem like a kind person in a rotten stitch, who also happens to be quite misogynistic.
Jake’s mother, Rachel Rush (Kathy Garver) is one of the major highlights of this viewing experience, she pulls in the wholesome element quite well. I want to travel with her in her RV.
Scotty (Michael Maclane) is the nepo son of the company, it was hard to watch a lovely gay coded character be portrayed as the antagonist, and much like his father Lawrence (Scott King) the story had them changing moods so often that I marveled at the acting prowess of both, as the balancing act felt almost vaudevillian on their part.
Krystal (Plastic Martyr) is a shining beacon in this story, taking a character that was seemingly written to be a support beam for the protagonist, managing to bring her to life in such a way as to bypass the limitations that her dialog presented. Her performance granted us time with a beautiful human who deserves a story of her own.
I did fanboy for a beat when Melissa Disney graced the screen as the hairstylist. Though I am admittedly biased, it seems almost criminal to have underutilized such an incredible talent.
Overall it makes perfect sense that Yellow Bird has achieved recognition in film festivals, it has a budget, the actors all bring something to the story that keeps the characters from becoming empty caricatures, and the crew did their jobs well.
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★ 3 / 10
Started cute and funny end corney
sevenj7
This movie starts off pretty funny much like a Kenny Powers film which is exciting but may be the worst thing to happen. Why?? Because the lead, his wife and…
This movie starts off pretty funny much like a Kenny Powers film which is exciting but may be the worst thing to happen. Why?? Because the lead, his wife and daughter are really the funny most interesting characters and their screen time is cut drastically to make room for sub story lines & characters less interesting.
The other store employees are fun and well appointed some of there script is funny. Id say the bad apple to spoil the bunch is a completely uninteresting character named "Krystal" who adds nothing of value to the story. The biggest issue is "Plastic Martyr" who plays Krystal fails to have any real acting skills and ends up killing because they place Krystal in just about every sene after introducing the character. Krystal is destracting uses exagerated body language & attention seeking facial expressions. Its obvious Plastic is just not an actor. Lets just say thats when the film goes from funny to corney fast. Overall, I gave it a 3 because all the other actors where good and the writing is "ok" with potential. In a the world of streaming where excellent acting and writing is at a 10/10 its difficult to cut corners and check boxes and end up with a good end result. This is not terrible but fell to a 3 star quickly
Id say this is a good film to put on while working for noise on something else.
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★ 6 / 10
There's a lot of corny overacting that made the characters look like cartoon characters.
trinaboice
IN A NUTSHELL: The film was directed by Angus Benfield, who also helped produce it and stars in the movie. Writing credit goes to Tony Jerris. In the style of…
IN A NUTSHELL:
The film was directed by Angus Benfield, who also helped produce it and stars in the movie. Writing credit goes to Tony Jerris.
In the style of The Office and Schitt's Creek comes a fun new comedy about searching for happiness, "Yellow Bird." This heartfelt film, set in a small country-town grocery store named "The Yellow Bird," is centered around once successful PR specialist Jake (Angus Benfield), now a stock boy in his mid-forties, struggling with his sobriety, and his conscience in the guise of a gnome (Brian Doyle-Murray) who is determined to remind Jake of all his failings, including his marriage. Jake's mother, Rachel Rush (Kathy Garver), is struggling with Alzheimer's and is living in an RV. Rachel is holding onto a past she remembers as much more adventurous and exciting than this life and is determined to find it once again, and Scotty, the protagonistic store manager who is stuck in a job his father wants him to be in, and so makes all the fun and quirky employees at "The Yellow Bird" miserable in return.
THINGS I LIKED:
The main cast includes director Angus Benfield, Brian Doyle-Murray, Kathy Garver, Plastic Martyr, Michael Maclane, Britt Crisp, and more. The hair stylist's name is Melissa Disney. Woah. Would you want your last name to be Disney?
I like that none of the characters look like slick, Hollywood actors, but instead, real people.
Plastic Martyr has the funniest lines of everyone.
You may not recognize any of the actors in the movie, but you'll definitely recognize the voice of Brian Doyle-Murray who voices Gnome.
If you love awkward movies, you'll love the characters in this.
The song "Yellow Bird" at the end of the movie is very sweet. It was written and performed by Ruth Benfield and Scott Oatley in 2022.
Several characters talk about the definition of a yellow bird: it refers to the love of your life, the person you can't live without. I've never heard that expression before. Have you? What I especially liked was that the film took it in another direction. Yellow Bird doesn't just refer to a person but a profession or your passion in life too.
The movie was filmed in Redding, California.
I love that Jake actually takes pride in his job and is committed to sticking with the Alcoholics Anonymous program.
The characters really grow on you by the end of the movie.
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
Some of the dialogue isn't very good.
Some of the acting isn't good.
The movie looks and feels like a low-budget Indie film.
It's a slow burn of a flick.
Lot of corny overacting that made the characters look like cartoon characters.
There were a few rough editing moments.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Some profanity
A woman tries to hit a man
Talk of a one-night stand and a possible resulting pregnancy
Finding your life's true passion.
To see my full review, go to my YouTube channel called Movie Review Mom!
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4.1/10
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