Cary and Gary, (Tyrell Ellis and TaettaChip) the comedic twins from South Central LA are back and at it again. The duo first appeared in the film Slumber Party, one of the first films we received here at the magazine. Now, they're back and up to more shenanigans as they try to come up with $1,000 in two days, so that their Mama's diseased foot isn't amputated. But, they have a few problems: they have no jobs, they have no car, and no one will lend them the money. Determined to do whatever it takes, Cary and Gary team up with their friend OG Super Crip (Omar) to try to come up with a plan to get the money. From a chili cook-off, to playing dice, to extorting money for a faked car injury, to a rap contest, the twins try everything they know (and a lot of things they can't) to try to save Mama's foot.
In order to prevent their Mama's
foot from being amputated...
...the twins must come up with a
way to get $1,000 in two days.
Content
The acting in this film is a huge improvement over Slumber Party. One of the primary problems with that film was that the actors didn't seem to have their lines memorized; as a result, the acting suffered tremendously, and a lot of the dialogue overlapped, making it very hard to follow. In Mama's Foot, however, it is clear that the actors have memorized the script and have their acting down. The performances are much more natural and smooth. Also, because the acting and delivery is polished, the audience can not only follow the story easily, but it's easy to catch the jokes. (It was almost impossible to catch the jokes in the previous film, because the chaotic acting made it so difficult.)
The overall writing does need some work, however. The dialogue and character interaction is fine, but the plot drags in several places, causing the audience to get bored and lose interest. Certain scenes could stand to be shortened, such as the "soft shoe karate" scene outside of the clinic, and the dancing scene. Also, the editing needs to be tightened up throughout the film, especially during some of the conversations; this will help it flow better and not feel like it's dragging.
Even with all of this, the total running time of the film (not including the credits) is only an hour and ten minutes. If the editing is tightened up, the time could go down to an hour and five minutes, which makes for a very short film indeed. As a suggestion for future films, if you're having trouble trying to come up with enough escapades for the twins, try combining things or bringing back elements that were introduced earlier in the film. Using this film as an example, maybe someone sees Cary doing his "Soft Shoe Karate", and suggests he enters a nearby copmpetition. Or maybe some kids see him showing off and offer to pay him for "lessons". Another possibility might be that the girls are so impressed by the twins and Super Crip's dancing that they ask the guys to do their routine with them in the competition. (These could either work out in his favor or go horribly wrong, as you see fit.) By combining different elements of the story that are already there, you can come up with additional adventures (or mistakes!) for the characters if you find that you're short on material.
