MBunge Break a Leg is a crushingly long and poorly told inside joke. It does have a halfway decent punch line but by the time the movie gets to it, you will have lost the will to live. Less a story and more a grab bag of experiences and anecdotes collected by the writers during their time in the trenches as struggling Hollywood actors, the slipshod script was handed over to a self-evidently witless director who proceeded to shoot it with all the style of Grace Kelly…after she'd been dead for 17 years. I will give this flock of buffoons credit for one thing. They've made a film about succeeding in show business which starkly demonstrates they have neither the talent nor skill to ever achieve that success. They should have gotten an Oscar for "Most Ironic Picture".Max Mateo (John Cassini) is a perpetually out of work actor who's frustrated at seeing roles he should get arbitrarily land in the laps of others. When he overhears two producers decide to pass him over for a part again based on which one of them can urinate the longest, Max finally snaps. He breaks the leg of the actor who got the job over him, then accidentally kills him. The role goes to Max and propels him into being the hot, young actor on the scene. Now, John Cassini is too homely and old to pass for either "young" or "hot", but I guess that's where suspension of disbelief comes in.Fame and fortune prove fairly fleeting for Max, even though he cripples another actor for a role. As his moment in the spotlight starts to dim, the police start to close in on Max for his crimes. Detectives Sanchez and Coyle (Rene Rivera and J.J. Johnston) set a harebrained trap for Max that works in spite of all logic and probability, even though Sanchez gets bitten by the acting himself and becomes as useful in the investigation as a wet sack of bricks.There are two things I want to say about the plot of Break a Leg. First, I know a lot of cruddy cop movies have been made by and for people who never watch anything but cruddy cop movies. As bad as those flicks are, they're head and shoulders above this one. That's because these filmmakers have no idea who cops are, what they do or how they do it. It's like writers Frank and John Cassini and director Monika Mitchell have never watched a cop movie, viewed a cop TV show, read a cop novel, seen a cop on the news or even passed by an officer on the street.Secondly, this plot involves perhaps the most glaring example of incompetent screen writing I've ever encountered. And if you've read other of my reviews on here, you know I've seen films with such horrible scripts they're an argument against the invention of the written word. Break a Leg has a little something that surpasses them all. Sanchez and Coyle come up with the plan to set up a phony film production. Though the movie is so ineptly written that it never explicitly states this, the idea is obviously to get Max to audition for a role, give the part to Sanchez pretending to be another actor and catch Max in the act of trying to kill his way to stardom again. Well, that's exactly what happens. It just doesn't happen on the phony movie set up by the police. You see, Max and Sanchez actually audition for the same part in a real film production. They actually become the final two choices for the part. Sanchez actually gets picked for the role over Max and then Max actually does try and kill him, while Sanchez literally does nothing but sit around his apartment waiting to catch Max red handed. If you can explain the point of setting up the phony film, only to dropkick plausibility into the Sun and have the scenario happen with a legitimate movie, you need to grow a long beard and move away to a mountain cave because you are the wisest human being who has ever lived.Fittingly, the acting in Break a Leg is the best thing about it. John and Frank Cassini are better than average as Max and his cousin Tony. Molly Parker is pretty good as the beautiful girlfriend success brings into Max's life. Jennifer Beals, Kevin Corrigan and Sandra Oh are nice in very small parts. Eric McCormack and Paula Marshall are excellent in an early scene that makes you think this film is going to be filled with funny cameos by well known actors, but then there's never another scene like it in the movie. However, J.J. Johnston sticks out like a sore thumb. Given the shockingly low quality of his performance, I can't believe he's a professional thespian who was paid to appear in this production. He's much more like an old homeless guy who showed up on the set one day, happened to fit the wardrobe of Detective Coyle and was willing to orally pleasure every member of the cast and crew.There have been far too many pretentious, self absorbed, dull and conceited films made about the hard life of the struggling actor. I would rather watch every other movie like that ever made before I would sit through Break a Leg one more time.

gordycam I stumbled across the film at the San Diego Film Festival. The film has moments, especially the beginning is told nicely (the scene when Mateo decides to go after another actor who got his part), but then it becomes very confusing and somewhat indulgent. On one hand the film has plot holes. Certain scenes were left out probably because they didn't have time during production. On the other hand the film spends too much time on things that have nothing to do with the premise.The worst part for me was a weird monoloque that Matteo had, voicing his frustration about his situation. I'm sure it was supposed to be this great character revelation, but it wasn't. Cinematography and Production Design were both weak. The best part is Molly Parker. All in all, this movie, unfortunately is not as good as the premise sounds.

erikylin I saw Break A Leg as the opening night film at the SF Indie fest on Feb 5th. Break A Leg follows the struggles of an actor (John Cassini) trying to make it in Hollywood. After continually losing out on roles to other actors, he resorts to violence to eliminate the competition.This movie is very funny, and the audience was laughing throughout. The tone is a little uneven, particularly in the final third, but the well scripted dialogue and fine work by the actors pull it through in the end. John Cassini and Rene Rivera both do a great job in this movie. Hopefully both of them get a lot more work in the future. There are also a number of hilarious cameos by Hollywood regulars.The film is shot pretty well, and most of the visuals look good. The sound left a little to be desired - some of the dialogue is a little muddy and hard to understand. (Note: this may be due to the theatre where I saw it. They had to restart the movie after we were about 5 minutes in due to 'audio difficulties.')Overall, it's a decent but not great movie. I went with a group of six people to the movie and all agreed that there were some hilarious moments, but all-in-all it's a so-so movie. Is it worth a trip to the theatre? Maybe, if you like movies with an indie feel and enjoy send-ups of Hollywood. Is it worth watching if it ever came out on DVD? Definitely. 5/10 Fun facts:-The director (Monika Mitchell) and the lead (John Cassini) are married.-In a Q&A session afterwards, Monika Mitchell mentioned that there are a whopping 64 speaking parts in the movie.

zimbean-4 Easily the best feature I saw at the Phoenix Film Festival, it deserved the best film award it received. The story is original. The writing is clever, funny and dark, and has a ring of veracity thanks to the writers' experience in the industry. The story structure is right on, with a satisfying climax. The acting was mostly terrific, especially Jennifer Beals -- I've never witnessed a better performance from her. John Cassini is right on the money, and the always great Molly Parker is great yet again. It's very well cast. My only complaint is that the psychedelic Shakespeare scene went on for far too long. Thanks for brightening an otherwise dreary Phoenix Film Festival.