Be prepared to hate King Kelly.
The character, that is, not the movie. Though possibly the movie too, depending on your tolerance for movies about spoiled brat kids with an unbearable sense of entitlement and a nonexistent grasp of reality and the consequences that come from behaving badly. You might also hate it if the idea of a movie filmed entirely on iPhones in shaky first-person and extreme close up sounds obnoxious. And if there is anything about "King Kelly" that tested my patience, it was this stylistic conceit that's been done to death and stops making narrative sense 10 minutes into the film. It's just not plausible that characters, even characters as obsessed with themselves as the ones who populate this movie, would be able to continue filming each other in any number of the situations in which they find themselves. Those situations include a car accident, a queasy sexual encounter with a state trooper and a shooting, along with lots of running around trying to track down a lost package of drugs.
Other reviewers seem to be responding to "King Kelly" as if it's a zany satire not to be taken too seriously. But if this film was meant to be funny, it's attempts failed miserably, because I found it to be more akin to a horror movie than a screwball comedy. It's not a great film, but it does tap into something very authentic about the current world culture of self-made celebrity, in which people with no talent and nothing really interesting to say or relate can pretend to be the famous person they'd rather be by posting every last thought and action on the Internet for the world to see. It's a deeply depressing trend, one that highlights just how bored people are with their lives and how desperate they are to be seen and heard, no matter for what reasons.
Grade: B+
The character, that is, not the movie. Though possibly the movie too, depending on your tolerance for movies about spoiled brat kids with an unbearable sense of entitlement and a nonexistent grasp of reality and the consequences that come from behaving badly. You might also hate it if the idea of a movie filmed entirely on iPhones in shaky first-person and extreme close up sounds obnoxious. And if there is anything about "King Kelly" that tested my patience, it was this stylistic conceit that's been done to death and stops making narrative sense 10 minutes into the film. It's just not plausible that characters, even characters as obsessed with themselves as the ones who populate this movie, would be able to continue filming each other in any number of the situations in which they find themselves. Those situations include a car accident, a queasy sexual encounter with a state trooper and a shooting, along with lots of running around trying to track down a lost package of drugs.
Other reviewers seem to be responding to "King Kelly" as if it's a zany satire not to be taken too seriously. But if this film was meant to be funny, it's attempts failed miserably, because I found it to be more akin to a horror movie than a screwball comedy. It's not a great film, but it does tap into something very authentic about the current world culture of self-made celebrity, in which people with no talent and nothing really interesting to say or relate can pretend to be the famous person they'd rather be by posting every last thought and action on the Internet for the world to see. It's a deeply depressing trend, one that highlights just how bored people are with their lives and how desperate they are to be seen and heard, no matter for what reasons.
Grade: B+