Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla (2014) User Reviews

I want nuts with that

[shaggysexxxy · 7/10 · 17 December 2015]

It starts off a bit iffy but once it gets into the plot it is a very intriguing film.

Gray Maynard is great in this film. The jerk off scenes are equally hilarious, disgusting and sad.

This is a great story about obsession.

The directing is very original and well done and so is the script you really start to care for Warren.

It catches you off guard by being absurd.

I have never seen a film before that uses a TV show in a movie as a learning toll for the plot . The video diary's are greatly done and you really start to see Warren in a different light. These videos were inspired by an actual stalkers video diary's.

Cool Australian DIY cinema

[joris-nightwalker · 6/10 · 19 January 2015]

An Australian b-movie! This low budget feature concerns the shy and socially awkward Warren that runs an ice cream truck. Being the product of heavy bullying and social isolation (seen through his own in-camera confessions), he is obsessed with a television actress of a local TV-show and gets completely euphoric when she shows up at his van to buy some ice cream. In the meanwhile he encounters several people who mock him or are themselves quite weird. After numerous setbacks, Warren gets Travis Bickle-like crazy. Luckily, the pretty predictable plot and rather conventional cinematography are outweighed by the authentic DIY feeling and an awesome over-the-top performance by Glenn Maynard (Warren), but it's too close to make a real impression. It seems like Maynard and Addison Heath (the writer of Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla) are on an underground crusade though. After their collaboration on this movie, two others will follow: Under a Kaleidoscope and Bubblegum: A Detective Story. I wonder how those will turn out to be!

Tricked by good reviews

[Mikelikesnotlikes · 5/10 · 17 April 2017]

Several times now I've watched a film that just does not measure up to the glowing reviews. I really need to hit the 'Love/Hate' filter more often to get a balanced opinion before investing my time.

CSV is not a good film. I'm an Aussie and I find a lot of our B- grade films pretty hard to sit through, and this one is yet another addition to the 'crap' pile. The acting and direction is not the problem here, it's definitely the writer and producer at fault.

The whole film is repressed and undefined. You are just about screaming for the payoff while suffering through some pretty cringe-worthy scenes, all the while hoping some epic retribution is coming.

It's just too damn slow. Warren's slow descent into madness might be interesting to some, but as a low-budget black comedy, it misses the critical entertainment mark by a mile.

Depressing, confronting, awkward. These are not great words of recommendation, especially when there are no redeeming qualities to take the sting off. Who was responsible for taking out the fun bits? Death by ice-cream truck was such a missed opportunity. Why leave the whore and her piece of crap son alive? I badly wanted them to die.

It doesn't even resonate as a weird cult movie like 'BAD BOY BUBBY'. Such a shame as it certainly could have made that grade with only a few small tweaks.

Don't waste your time with this movie.

Indulgence for the masochists

[goku_mars · 1/10 · 14 November 2014]

Australia can make an amazing movie and have a few iconic titles to prove it. However, this movie is not one of them.

I must stress that the premise of this being a comedy drama is far from accurate. I would question the values of anyone who laughs during this movie.

We follow a poor, socially awkward ice-cream van driver who is steadily brought to madness by the cruelty of life through a series of bullying strangers, a two-faced TV actress and his perhaps only friend turned junkie.

The main actor himself is a credit to his capabilities, but in what feels like yet again another low budget Australian movie, there is little else I can say good except perhaps the extremely graphic nature of the violence on screen is disturbingly vivid.

If you enjoy watching someone being kicked when they're down and delight in the suffering of others, then perhaps you will enjoy this movie, but for the rest of us, stay away!

Unimpressive

[dalysimon · 2/10 · 22 November 2014]

I read a review of this movie suggesting there was some novel twists in the movie, unlike standard mainstream movies.

I was expecting fledgling auteurs to be making a mark in Australian cinematic history.

How wrong I was.

Being a native of west Melbourne suburbs, I found the locations were recognizable and accurately reflected the demographic in this movie. These being drug addicts and life's losers.

That was something I could suggest was positive about this movie. Along with nice cinematography and reasonable editing.

The script was slow, lacking vitality and the acting was dreary(Glenn Maynard stood out as particularly bad), uninspiring and flat. The characters were 2D and the plot was banal. Using periodic incidents of violence to make up for a missing story.

If this was a student film I would say it was a good first effort.

I am guessing that the cast and crew are trying to make their way in a 'cliquey' closed business and they have put this together to do something and prove their skills. Which are demonstrable in part but the movie failed as a whole.

Sad that lots of hard work has resulted in such a poor result. 2 stars - 1 is for effort, not for cinematic merit

A slow film that really isn't worth watching

[geoffrey_wright · 1/10 · 15 August 2015]

This film seem like it should be a interesting film but it just doesn't get there. It follows an ice-cream van driver and soap opera fans life over a few months. During his work he meets one of the actors from the soap show and he has to put up with cruel people.

I would have to disagree with another review up here that claims it is similar to Bad Boy Bubby, which I loved. The only similarities I see is that they are both Australian films in which you feel sorry for the main character. In Bad Boy Bubby I was hanging on to see what would happen next because it kept you enthralled but in Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla I was just waiting for something of interest to happen.

The film feels like it is trying to do something that it has not achieved and as a result ended up as a slow boring drama that doesn't hold the viewers attention. I saw it listed as a dark comedy but found almost nothing in the film funny. I do not feel the need to watch this again and personally I would recommend watching something else over this.

Amazing indie film, kept me on edge

[belleofthyball · 9/10 · 5 April 2014]

I was lucky enough to see a (sold out) screening of this at last year's Monster Fest. I went in not really expecting much. The trailer on the Monster Fest site had intrigued me but I still wasn't 100% sold. I couldn't quite put my finger on what genre the film was and whether I would like it.

That all changed as soon as it started playing. From the start, I empathised with the main character, Warren (played by Glenn Maynard), whose life revolved around his ice-cream business and Katey George (played by Kyrie Capri), an actress from a Neighbours-esque soap drama.

The film blurred the lines between reality and fiction as Warren daydreamed of what his life would be like with Katey George.

There were dark elements that were startlingly juxtaposed with comedic ones. One second I was relaxed and jovial and the next I was clutching the arm rest. Usually I'm pretty good at predicting story lines but not this one!

I would recommend this to anyone who is sick of mainstream films and the same plots over and over. This is one twisted and funny little film that kept the surprises coming. I hope to see more from the writers and the director of this film soon.

This is why 'EVERYONE GETS A TROPHY' is a terrible idea.

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 9 May 2023]

So this won a lot of awards... if the awards are for: DULL. LIFELESS. BORING. SLOW. GO NOWHERE STORY. MIND-NUMBING. WHAT THE HECK IS SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPENING. I'd vote for it in an instant! I can't believe that one of the best magazines around, Rue Morgue, said this was worth watching. Maybe under the influence of cannabis or other harder substances. I watched it and wish I could apply bleach to the brain cells that will never let me forget this. The main character, a creepy ice-cream man, obsessed with a soap star, is creepy from the moment he walks on camera. How creepy? Know how in the first shining, Jack Nicholson looks like a maniac from the second he appears? Well that creepy. Other than that, and waiting and waiting for something to move this along, it's just a dull, dull, dull movie. But, in today's world, where everyone gets a trophy... I can see how this won some awards.

Not a bad movie, but very depressing to watch

[triviumeva · 3/10 · 28 July 2023]

I watched this movie for the first time yesterday with my mum. Although it was entertaining enough and technically not a bad movie, it was extremely depressing. Both my mum and I were genuinely upset by the end of the film. One good thing though, because we bought it on DVD, we watched the commentary with some of the cast and crew. Although we know it was only a movie with actors, it was nice to see them out of character, discussing their roles and just being lighthearted. This was good for a movie like this because its main character was very lonely, and someone the viewer would most likely feel very sorry for, so it was great to see the actors talking and having a bit of a laugh in the commentary.

Long story short - I would NOT recommend this movie due to its depressing nature (my mum and I watch a LOT of movies, and this is the first time we felt this upset by the end of a movie), but of course, this is just our opinion.

Dark, twisted tale

[staffc18 · 9/10 · 27 April 2014]

A great thrill ride of a film, telling the mental disintegration of an ice cream salesman who has developed an unhealthy obsession for the central female character of a Home and Away style TV soap story. Depicts very effectively the sordid and lonely lifestyle of the main character but with touches of warmth and perverse humour throughout.

Not easily classified into any genre but a mix of dark comedy, psychological thriller, human drama, revenge horror and even spaghetti style western. It is not always clear where the lines, if any between reality and delusion are drawn in the increasingly fractured world of Warren (played with absolute conviction by Glenn Maynard) but it all builds to a cathartic and brutal finale.

One not to be missed in a world of formulaic, middle of the road and average cinema.

Fans of "Bad Boy Bubby" will be delighted.

[midden-heap · 8/10 · 26 December 2014]

If this is comedy, it is of a very dark sort: it does cover territory that Bad Boy Bubby did with more verve but, to it's credit, it has a unique take that is less surreal and is more a vignette than a tale. This movie is a huge easter egg hunt for fans of Australian (and NZ) cinema. For example; it is very much a twisted homage to the "man alone" genre, so the decor of the main character's house references the 70s/80s, when that genre ruled antipodean cinema. Don't let this put you off if this is terra incognita, the characters are very universal and the strokes very broad.

Definitely worth seeing, ignore the negative reviews, you can see that they are from writers who expect a healthy measure of saccharine in the recipe. If you don't have a sweet tooth, this movie is a rewarding dish; the flavours are simple and bitter. This is its greatest achievement; proving that a film doesn't have to be a melange of complex themes and complex characters to be a tasty dish.

Not what I expected, but in a good way

[ejm-45068 · 9/10 · 14 March 2020]

So, I came across this by accident. I never saw a trailer or promotional for it. I almost never like anything the first time I watch it. You can't help but think Warren is a little creepy at first, but as the movie progressed I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He's a nice guy, slightly delusional at times, but a bit misunderstood. Long story short, when we see Warren's situation getting worse, I couldn't help but to have empathy for him. People can only be pushed so far before they get fed up. Without any coping skills, Warren goes off the rails in a full blown trainwreck. The best way to describe it would be, Bljork stalker-like. I can understand why some people won't like it but I thats why they make chocolate and vanilla, and maybe strawberry<........ugh lame pun, sorry.