Noobz (2012)

Director:

Blake Freeman

Writers:

Blake Freeman
Marvin Willson (writer)

Release Date:

25 January 2013 (USA)

Plot:

Four friends hit the road to LA to compete in the Cyberbowl Video Game Championship, but will they be able to compete with the worst hangovers of their lives? |

Cast

Blake Freeman	...	Cody
Moises Arias	...	Hollywood
Casper Van Dien	...	Casper Van Dien
Jason Mewes	...	Andy
Sabrina Carpenter	...	Brittney
Jon Gries	...	Greg Lipstein
Carly Craig	...	Melissa
Lin Shaye	...	Mrs. Theodore
Richard Speight Jr.	...	Jeff
Mindy Sterling	...	Mrs. Robinson
Zelda Williams	...	Rickie
Brien Perry	...	Mr. Perry
Jesse Heiman	...	Computer Guy
Matt Shively	...	Oliver
Bill Bellamy	...	Brian Bankrupt Simmons
Rick Overton	...	Martin Wilson
Bette Rae	...	Molly
India Oxenberg	...	Pixie Teammate
Catherine Annette	...	Cocktail Waitress
Ashley A. Thomas	...	Missy
Skylan Brooks	...	Chomomma
David Hoffman	...	Angry Customer
Charlene May	...	Pixie Teammate
I. Elijah Baughman	...	Restaurant Customer
Gray Ellis	...	Tournament Spectator (as Tony Ellis)
Adam Sessler	...	Adam Sessler
Kalilah Harris	...	Exotic Dancer
Caroline Kinsolving	...	Sarah Cronin
John Alves	...	Referee
Paul J. Ballin	...	Corey
Shawnda Gaston	...	Pixie Teammate
Chenese Lewis	...	Milkshake
Michael J. Sielaff	...	Employee Chris
Robert Parks-Valletta	...	Bartender
Pride Grinn	...	Greg's Opponent
Fabian Alomar	...	Anthrax
Ricky Titus	...	Nerdy Student
Valerie Humbard	...	Game Con Girl
Gene Loveland	...	EMT #2
Samba Schutte	...	Sports Bar Fan
Danielle R. Crane	...	Carissa
Nathalie Merchant	...	Challenger
Kerry Wynnyk	...	Older couple
Bo Burroughs	...	Robert NVL
Michelle Lacroix	...	Mt. Dew Girl
Christopher M. Owens	...	Gamecon Security
Jason Vu	...	EMT #1
Timothy C. O'Mara	...	Acid
Arnold Velazquez	...	Doorman
Eric Golowski	...	Frat Guy
Evan Avtal	...	Team Gunnar
Eddy Lord	...	Waiter
Jake Flaming	...	Airport Traveler

Directed by
Blake Freeman

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Blake Freeman
Marvin Willson		writer

Produced by
Danielle R. Crane	....	producer
Shane Duffy	....	producer
Michael Fancher	....	co-producer
Blake Freeman	....	producer
Julie Thomas Knap	....	co-producer
Kip Konwiser	....	producer
Casper Van Dien	....	co-producer
Jason Vu	....	producer
Marvin Willson	....	producer

Cinematography by
Ryan Purvis

Film Editing by
Blake Freeman
Ryan Purvis

Casting by
Ferne Cassel

Art Direction by
Ashley A. Thomas

Makeup Department
Carly Ryan	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Timothy C. O'Mara	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joseph Smith	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Ryan Briley	....	assistant sound editor
Josh Chavez	....	boom operator
Robert Dehn	....	sound studio manager
Giovanni Di Simone	....	sound
Chris Diebold	....	sound effects editor
Jason Gaya	....	sound re-recording mixer
Angela Hemingway	....	supervising dialogue editor
Spencer Schwieterman	....	sound effects editor
Milos Zivkovic	....	sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Alex Allgood	....	visual effects artist
Logan Aries	....	visual effects producer

Stunts
Dustin Kydd	....	assistant stunt rigger

Camera and Electrical Department
David Cane	....	assistant camera
Eric Golowski	....	assistant camera
Jesse Lee	....	grip
Oliver Lynch	....	camera operator
Salmun Mousavi	....	electrician
Chad Sullivan	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Darya Balyura	....	casting associate
Sequoia Houston	....	extras casting

Editorial Department
Amanda Elliott	....	on-line editor
Carolyn Woods	....	colorist

Other crew
Brian Epps	....	production assistant
Sequoia Houston	....	script supervisor
Jacob Martin	....	production assistant
Michael E. Morales	....	production legal counsel
Kaity Nielson	....	production coordinator
Christopher M. Owens	....	production assistant
Robert Paz	....	technical advisor
Gordon River	....	production assistant
Arnold Velazquez	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Wunderkind Pictures

Distributors

• Big Air Studios (2013) (USA) (theatrical)
• Wunderkind Pictures (2011) (worldwide) (theatrical)
• Big Air Studios (2013) (USA) (DVD)
• EuroVideo (2013) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Air Hollywood  aviation sets and interiors
• Sonic Magic  sound post-production

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language including some crude sexual references

Runtime:

90 min (a | USA:97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (HD)

Certification:

USA:R | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Wunderkind Pictures

Trivia:

Cody's car has no actual license plate, but does have "Smodcast" on the plate holder. Smodcast is the podcast network of Kevin Smith, who is good friends with Jason Mewes (Andy).

Goofs:

Continuity: (at around 50 mins) Andy (Jason Mewes) is sitting in the car with Cody. The front on shot shows Andy with his seat belt off, but on the side shot, he has it on, then off again on the front shot.

Adult gamer comedy that needs to hit the 'reset' button

Noobz is the story of four gamers and their path to LA and the Cyberbowl Video Game Championships. Of course, there's the usual trials and tribulations that come with such a trip. Written and directed by relative newcomer Blake Freeman, the central four of the film are played by Jason Mewes (Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, The Tripper, Todd & The Book of Pure Evil), Matt Shively (Paranormal Activity 4), Moises Arias (Hannah Montana, Nacho Libre) and Freeman himself. Along the way, there's comedy, romance, break-ups, gaming rivalry and Casper Van Dien.

The film starts off by showcasing the rivalry that is now more popular than ever between online games. Gone are the days of one man sat in his room, bashing his joystick on his own. Now said joystick basher has the chance to test his wits against other like-minded people across the globe. Even better than that, there are now gangs/clans that games can join up with in order to take down other clans via the joys of the worldwide web.

We're firstly introduced to three friends; Cody (Freeman), Andy (Mewes) and Oliver (Shively). They play Gears of War 3 online in a four-man clan alongside their cyber-friend 'Hollywood', supposedly Casper Van Dien, but in reality Moises Arias. All four are obsessed gamers, with them calling a halt to all other activities in their life when there's the chance of an online match - jobs and relationships firmly take a back seat early on in the story. We also quickly learn about their mortal enemies; the 'Black Assassins' clan. The film is set up as a buddy movie of sorts, with some smutty and sexual humour thrown in for good measure.

First thing's first with a comedy like this, is it actually funny? To this, I say, an unequivocable 'at times.' The film starts off well, with the principal cast and the basic plot all introduced quickly and thoroughly enough. It's sometime during the second act that the film starts to lose its appeal. At first the jokes are fine, even funny a lot of the time, but they just seem to repeat themselves the longer the film goes. The humour is toilet humour at best. Luckily, I'm a fan of toilet humour - I just prefer it to be a bit funnier than the majority of what's on show here.

Whilst the characters are all supposed to be flawed in their own individual ways, I didn't find myself feeling any attachment to any of them. Now, I'm a gamer as well, so I could relate to that part of the story, it's just that the characters, particularly Cody, feel hollow. There's just nothing there to care about. There's the unravelling of an apparent love story featuring Mewes and Zelda Williams' Rickie, yet you never really buy into it as it's not fleshed out enough for you to even care about, especially when the film reaches its finale. You're left thinking, 'what was the point?' with that subplot – a feeling that you'll have to become familiar with if you're to see Noobz through.

The film isn't entirely horrible; there are some funny bits. The funnier scenes seem to stem around young Sklyan Brooks' Chomamma; the leader of the rival 'Black Assassins' clan. It's just a major shame that the majority of his scenes tend to come in the first half of the film, meaning that the better stuff is out-of-the-way early on. I also quite look the comical usernames that the main characters have, with RumPULL4Skinz being a favourite of mine. There's also some decent performances, mainly from Matt Shively and Moises Arias. There's even a nice subplot involving Jon Gries' distant father to Arias' Hollywood. Gries is great in his role as a world-famous retro gamer, with Frogger being his game of choice. He's almost an exact replica of the real life Billy Mitchell, as featured in the brilliant 2007 documentary The King of Kong. As well as Gries, it's also nice to see an appearance from a personal favourite of mine, Lin Shaye. It's just a shame that her role is brief and relatively unimportant. You also feel as if Jason Mewes is trying to his best with the role, yet he seems to be facing a constant uphill battle. His character is often funny, yet sometimes a bit too forced, with the character just coming off as Jay-lite for those familiar with Mewes' appearance in various Kevin Smith films over the years. Mewes is better than this.

The concept of the film is quite nice in principle, but the execution is sloppy. The film takes elements from films such as Fanboys, Detroit Rock City, Role Models, Sex Drive and the aforementioned The King of Kong documentary, yet it fails to live up to any of those. Flat, hollow, lifeless and unfulfilling are just some words to throw at Noobz. It does have a Casper Van Dien cameo though.

I was really hoping for a lot more from this film, yet I was massively disappointed. It's not without its charms, it's just that they're few and far between. I give Noobz a bland and boring 4 out of 10 stars. I do quite like the tagline of 'Regular guys, virtual heroes' though.