VHYes (2019)

This bizarre retro comedy, shot entirely on VHS and Beta, follows 12-year-old Ralph as he accidentally records home videos and his favorite late night shows over his parents' wedding tape.

Director:

Jack Henry Robbins

Writers:

Nunzio Randazzo, Jack Henry Robbins

Stars:

Jake Head, Christopher Marble, Christian Drerup

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jake Head	...	Ralph's Dad
Christopher Marble	...	Priest
Christian Drerup	...	Ralph's Mom
Mason McNulty	...	Ralph
Roy Abramsohn	...	Gavin Johnson
Helen Kennedy	...	Bree Jones (as Helen Kennedy Turner)
Amos Vernon	...	New Zack
William Frederick Knight	...	Kindly the Cowboy
Lucas Jaye	...	Kiddo
Deborah Sale Butler	...	Radio DJ / Infomercial Annoucer (as Deborah Sale-Buttler)
Rahm Braslaw	...	Josh
Kerri Kenney	...	Joan
Mark Proksch	...	Teddy
Jelena Williams	...	Skeet Woman
Thomas Lennon	...	Tony V

Storyline

12-year-old budding home video director Ralph begins accidentally taping over his parents' VHS wedding tape. As he overwrites the magnetic echoes of their pre-Ralph past, he commemorates his love affair with the format by using the versatile tape to make new memories of himself with his parents while also employing it to tape eccentric pioneers of late-night cable television. Shot entirely on VHS.

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Plot Keywords:

wedding | reference to manuel noriega | television news | video camera | security system | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are director Jack Henry Robbins parents. Both actors appear in the film.

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Goofs

In Joan's painting, she paints herself slam dunking on a green-haired Dennis Rodman in a Chicago Bulls jersey. The film is set in 1987, but this look of Dennis Rodman's didn't occur until 1995.

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Connections

Spoofs The Joy of Painting (1983)

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Soundtracks

It's Your Body 2
Written by Connan Mockasin
Performed by Connan Mockasin

User Reviews

Uniquely strange

I can't really call this a movie, in the common sense. Sure you'll see some semi-recognizable faces who have held smaller parts across many comedy shows and movies, most notably a few cast members from Reno 911, but there is not a straight forward narrative here. Instead we have more of an anthology of faux-public access and infomercial skits (think Tim & Eric Awesome Show) specifically created and filmed deliberately in amateur style under the pretense that a young boy recorded these bits of cheesy TV over a VHS tape that was originally once reserved for his parents' 1987 wedding footage. You'll see classic clips of horribly acted 80's porn (the story scenes), exaggerated jazzercize infomercials, the blue vertically scrolling preview channel, absurd advertisements, boring public access programs about rock bands and conspiracies, knock-off Antiques Roadshow and HSN bits, and peppered in between all of this you have quick shots of the kid's parents' wedding video and times where him and his friend were messing with the camcorder during sleepovers. Everything is pretty convincing here and as an 80s/90s kid myself, I appreciate the authenticity. This is a love letter to a certain kind of person, of a certain age, with a certain sense of humor. If you get it, you really get it. If you don't, then you just weren't the target audience. This film is like one endless inside-joke, and it's absolutely brilliant for what it is.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

31 January 2020 (Canada)

Also Known As:

VHYes

Box Office

Gross USA:

$47,037

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$47,037

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hot Winter Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1