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 William (Lucas Fleischer), Hank (Siaka Massaquoi), and Champ (Reil Paley), are three members of a four-man relay team. They spend every waking moment training to compete, thinking about competing, and badmouthing their chief competition – four German hot tub salesmen.
However, these three men have one major obstacle in their quest for glory. Namely, there are only three of them. They are in desperate need of a fourth man, without which all their training will be for naught.
Content
The Fourth reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. And I definitely mean that as a compliment. There are enough random moments, great comedy, and nothing but crazy and quirky characters. I love all the little touches of character – William’s pregnant wife who’s always eating something, the rival German relay team in their sliver spandex tracksuits that leave little to the imagination, and even the posters that William uses to cover every spare wall and telephone pole in town in their quest for the illusive fourth man.
The film’s ending is also good – it’d be difficult to completely wrap up a short like this, but I liked the suggestion that perhaps all is not lost for the intrepid trio.
Visual Look
This movie had a very unique look. The colors were so vibrant and oversaturated; it almost gave a feeling of surreality, but at the same time the look seemed to add to the comedy element, as well.
There are a lot of great images in this film, as well. There’s a very nice moving shot of three men running together behind the camera; something that couldn’t have been too easy to pull off, but looks amazing. The recurrent images of William’s giant wall of posters, which the Germans keep covering up with ads for their hot tubs; the shot of all three men stepping outside their houses – which are all right next to each other – for their morning run. Even the introduction shots of the three main characters jogging in place, each at their respective places of business, was great for a laugh as it served the dual purpose of introducing the characters and showing their obsession with jogging and staying fit.
Use of Audio
Once again, the music in this film reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. Though the music is unique enough to distinguish itself, the instrumental quality does a lot to add to the comedy factor. I especially like the fact that, while the men are running, the music matches their rhythm very well.
The dialogue is clear and easy to understand as well, though occasionally the Germans’ accents get in the way a bit.
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