This one manages to not be as disturbing as, say, The Great Gabbo, mostly by virtue of Adrian Brody being the ventriloquist. He actually did all of the puppet work for the movie, which now promotes him to "Celebrity whose dinner party invitation I would decline". It actually reminded me a lot of Todd Solondz's work (inherently fucked up people trying so hard to be normal) except it didn't make me want to scrub myself with bleach and/or make penance at a local church.
Steven (Adrian Brody) is a nice guy living with his dysfunctional family. He buys a ventriloquist's dummy because he's weird. His permanently adolescent friend, Fanny (Milla Jovovich), is just as weird but at least she's too stupid to know it.
Steven lives at home with his well-meaning but detached parents and his sister, Heidi (Ileana Douglas) who is still trying to recover from breaking off her engagement with Michael the psycho accountant (Jared Harris) while trying to run a wedding planner business.
Steven loses his dead-end job and meets Lorena (Vera Farmiga), his unemployment counselor who encourages his bizarre hobby and even helps him get a talent agent. Meanwhile, Fanny is willing to do anything to get her garage band a gig, even if that means learning Yiddish so Heidi will hire them as a klezmer act.
OH HELL YES MILLA ROCKS THE SHIT OUT OF SOME FIDDLER ON THE ROOF JAMS! That, right there, would have been worth renting this movie. But, on top of that, there's a hilarious showdown between Michael, Heidi, Steven and Lorena at the wedding. For an independent film, that's pretty good. Usually they only have about two good scenes and no name actors trying to put themselves through film school.
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