DR. BRINKS AND DR. BRINKS

Film Review by FIORE

It is exceptionally difficult to produce and then distribute successfully, an Independent movie.  That’s why I must give kudos to any one individual, or studio who tries.  DR. BRINKS AND DR. BRINKS is the brainchild of Josh Crockett.  He directed the film, produced it, co-wrote it with Jon Pappas and served as editor.  Valiant effort, but in this endeavor,  Crockett wore too many hats.

As an editor, Crockett commits moral sin.  I can hear thousands of my former students yelling “jump cuts!”  And, they would be right.  A jump cut is never to be used, period.  It’s lazy, sloppy editing, and there are always far better alternatives that do not disrupt the narrative.  Crockett uses jump cuts and should ensure a solid editor is in his next film budget.

The pace of DR. BRINKS AND DR. BRINKS is monotonous.  The film is slow and boring.  While part of the problem is the editing, the rest lies in the script.  Crockett and Pappas are trying desperately to make this a comedy folks can relate to; but they cannot capture the dark comedy the story calls for, creating a few scenes eliciting mere smirks.  

Hindering the film is its subject matter.  Death and grieving are seldom humorous, unless it’s the funeral scene in SCARY MOVIE 3.   The Brinks are a dysfunctional family.  Mom and dad largely ignore their kids, and the siblings ignore their parents and each other.  That all changes when the parents die in a plane crash.  Now Marcus (Scott Rodgers) and Michelle (Kristin Slaysman, who also produced) are forced to confront each other, and their own grief.

To complicate issues, the parents were both doctors, working in third world countries to “help mankind”.  They have a global reputation of being “saints”.  Michelle and Marcus are far from sainthood, and are further chagrined when they discover their parents pilfered millions of dollars under the guise of charities.  Now the FBI and IRS threaten to bankrupt both kids, while they attempt to deal with the lose of their parents and preserve their saintly reputation.

Heady stuff here, and admittedly it would take an amazing comedy writer to turn these morbid plot twists into a laugh out loud comedy.  Rather, DR. BRINKS AND DR. BRINKS plays to the minority crowd who see laughter in tragedy and revel at others’ misfortune.  While Marcus is established as the protagonist, he suffers and loses the most.  Hard to cultivate audience empathy with that scenario.

DR. BRINKS AND DR. BRINKS also stars Ashley Spillers as Alex, Marcus’ wife.  She uses a moment of indiscretion on Michelle’s part to turn her back on a pretty solid relationship with Marcus.  Robert Longstreet plays Alex’s dad who turns the awkward situation topsy-turvy when he is seduced by Michelle.

Comedy is a funny thing – pun intended.  What one finds funny, another may not.  I thought DR. BRINKS AND DR. BRINKS fell short repeatedly on presenting a script with the proper elements of dark comedy.  And, then there are the jump cuts.  It plods more than it puns.

DR. BRINKS AND DR. BRINKS, waiting for over two years for distribution, will be released on August 17 on VOD and streaming services.  It was helped by a GoFundMe program, and everyone who gave money is listed in the end credits.  They do take a while.