The Deadbeat Club (2004) User Reviews

I was actually in the movie.

[charmed_0213 · 5/10 · 14 March 2007]

If the movie seems as if they just chose kids right off the street it is because they did. Most of the kids in the movie were out of my Jr. High and High School. Much of the film was shot in my hometown, Olney, and the nearby town, Megargel. Around the end of the school year we were informed in an assembly that there was going to be a movie made in Olney and we were all invited to be extras. Many people of our little school (about 300-400 high school students in all of Olney High) went to the filming and were extras. In the beginning of the film I can be seen being picked for one of the teams. I am "Jennifer" and am in a red shirt. We all had fun and no not many of the people had the acting experience that the lead actors did therefore they may have seemed a bit scripted and out of sync.

low budget film with Priceless Inner Depth

[borderlinecomedy · 7/10 · 13 November 2005]

This is an independent film that portrays an unchanged small-town community and the extent to which it is willing to reject new town members over the years. When one outcast family suffers from the loss of a house-fire, a new teenage town-member feels compelled to help the survivor. One by one she wins the hearts of the town's other outcasts, and they band together for a good cause. This movie raises questions over all that is traditional(including religion). The Deabeat Club will move you to question "what is perceived to be right?", and "what is right?" If you can gloss over the fact that this is a low budget film, you will discover that the Deabeat Club has priceless inner depth. A must see rating. -Margarita Shanks Bennett

Offbeat Deadbeats

[NJMoon · 3/10 · 8 July 2006]

I liked the title. But that's as much as I can say for this listless indy about a group of teen outcasts in a small Texas town who put on a talent show to raise money for a man whose family has been killed in a fire. The 'deadbeats' themselves are never convincingly cast. The misfit 'ugly' girl is obviously older and prettier, hiding behind a Hollywood unibrow, odd wardrobe and glasses. Her best friend is far too old, awkwardly overweight and obviously propped up in her wheelchair for the film. The oversexed skank gal pal looks like a drag queen. The deaf boy isn't - as revealed by the DVD extras. Only the gay best friend is convincingly cast (though still not a very good actor) possibly due to the fact that the character and actor where both 'coming out' at the same time (DVD extras again). Perhaps it was the fact that it was supposedly 'based on a true story' that kept the film makers tied to a one-note script but that doesn't excuse the amateurish acting and the awful dialogue. The talent show itself is jaw-droppingly bad, a parade of oddities that even the most forgiving viewer would be put off by. The whole sordid affair is topped off by a cherubic tot singing "Jesus Loves Me". How much squirming can one take?

I was in it, too. Terrible flick, though!

[fretboarder1 · 1/10 · 28 May 2007]

I was one of the "band members" in the church scene. Tons of fun being involved in the whole production atmosphere, not much fun viewing it downtown (Dallas) at the debut. Terrible acting (myself included), bad editing, and (sorry, Izzy) poor script. The story itself is supposedly based on Israel Luna's personal experience. The problem from my vantage is that he tried WAY too hard to make his point. The dialogue doesn't seem very natural, and at times it seems he's trying to purposefully antagonize those he seems to be trying to win over. Ill-conceived approach, dude. The funniest part for me, though, was cracking jokes and criticising the film during the debut screening only to find out that one of the ones snickering and joking with me was the EXECUTIVE PRODUCER!! Great experience, terrible movie.

Awful

[Ethan_Lawrence · 1/10 · 27 October 2006]

Picture a really bad after school special and then multiply that by about 10. The screenplay had no direction and a very very choppy sequence of events; Absolutely no character arch and hardly any pivot points.

Yes, I'm technical, and as an aspiring screenwriter I really want to know how Luna got this film produced.... I was writing better crap in UCLA film school. But anyhow, on with my critique.

It's a lesson in charity and giving and realizing what's really important in life, but it seems like Luna suffocates you with it. At many times the dialogue seems too "preachy"; we're kinda scratching our heads and saying to ourselves, "didn't she just make that point"? In film you need to SHOW us not TELL us and this is what I mean by a choppy flow of the story. Maybe this would have made a better stage play.

Then, a hilarious event which would NEVER happen in which a queer Texas boy is "man handled" into baptizing into a Mexican church.... and then a lady named "Miss Piggy" who owns the only restaurant in town got a really big laugh.

To take the cake though, was a 15 minute monologue by a handicapped robust woman about her take on church and religion. WOW, don't bother seeing this one.

E