Review of Mon Ami

Mon Ami (2012)
7/10
Solidly enjoyable lo fi comedy horror
4 October 2013
Best friends and co-workers Teddy & Cal are bored and disgruntled with their dead end job. Bored because it sucks and disgruntled as Teddy is passed for promotion in favour of the company owner's sons.

One day they decide that a great way to solve their problems and get rich quick would be to kidnap their boss's daughter and extort a ransom, thereby making enough $$$ to live on easy street for life. The only problem is, that if you looked up the terms "inept", "horribly disorganised" "bumbling", "Likable but kinda dim" and "worst kidnappers in the history of kidnapping", you would undoubtedly find the faces of Teddy & Cal staring back at you, probably while grinning inanely too.

And when you have two people whose planning capability could be written on the back of a postage stamp with room to spare, deciding to engage in an actual kidnapping, then you just know things are gonna end in tears. And blood. And dismemberment...

Mon Ami, while clearly shot on a shoestring budget is still a solidly enjoyable comedy horror that comes across as semi experimental and has a nice sense of unpredictability to it. It does have its flaws, with it being more restrained than I would have liked, although in fairness this was probably due to budgetary constraints. It also could have benefited with some slight trimming,with some scenes going on overlong. I personally found some of the performances akin to the hysterical performances of the screwball comedies of the 30s/40s, which I found slightly grating, and also probably due to budgetary constraints, the film relies on classical music for a score, which doesn't always work for it. That having said,it has a ton of heart,some decent dialogue and good believable chemistry between our two bickering buffoons and is in tone at least, nicely nasty in parts.

Overall it's a solid and ultimately satisfying lo fi indie comedy horror from the ever underrated Canada and worth checking out for any fan of indie comedies, horrors or thrillers and any horror fan who enjoyed the likes of Trent Haaga's Chop (2011) or The Cottage (2008) should have a reasonably good time with this. 7/10, a solid little film and an enjoyable watch.
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