Review: 'Broncos' tunes into 'Napoleon' vibe

Sometimes, it's impossible to defend your enjoyment of a comedy other than to say "it made me laugh."

Thankfully, no other defense is necessary. If a comedy makes you laugh, it has fulfilled its mission.

"Gentlemen Broncos" made me laugh -- but I'm one of those tuned into the comic wavelength of "Napoleon Dynamite," the first movie by "Broncos' " husband-and-wife filmmaking team of Jared and Jerusha Hess. If that one didn't make you laugh, odds are this one won't do it for you, either.

In "Broncos," as with "Napoleon," the Hesses -- Jared directed, and he and Jerusha co-wrote the screenplay -- explore the off-the-wall characters of a typical small town (filmed by the Hesses, who live in Salt Lake City, all over

northern Utah). Benjamin (played by "Sky High's" Michael Angarano) is a home-schooled teen who writes bizarre science-fiction novels. One weekend, he's excited to bring his latest story, an epic called "Yeast Lords," to a creative-writing clinic to be critiqued by his idol, sci-fi writer Dr. Ronald Chevalier (played by Jemaine Clement, of "Flight of the Conchords").

But then Benjamin's "Yeast Lords" story is hijacked, twice. First, it's intercepted by Tabatha (Halley Feiffer, from "The Squid and the Whale"), a cute home-schooler at the same workshop, and her filmmaking pal Lonnie (Hector Jimenez, from Jared Hess' "Nacho Libre") and turned into a low-quality movie. Then, Chevalier plagiarizes the story and pawns it off as his latest opus.

The Hesses bring the same kind of oddball character details to "Broncos" as they did to "Napoleon Dynamite." The key difference is that Benjamin is, unlike anyone in "Napoleon Dynamite," relatively normal.

Chevalier is a poster child for artistic pomposity, with his faux-Native American necklaces and never-used Bluetooth headset, and Clement adds the hilarious touch of an overbearing James Mason/Michael York accent. Benjamin's home life includes a clueless mom (Jennifer

Coolidge) and a wigged-out "guardian angel" (Mike White).

The capper, though, is the director's side-splitting depictions of the "Yeast Lords" saga, with Sam Rockwell jumping with abandon into the hero role. Or, rather, roles -- since the hero is a hairy he-man in Benjamin's version and a swishy blonde in Chevalier's rewrite.

The deliberately low-rent cheesiness of the special effects, as well as the childish grossness of the humor, give "Gentlemen Broncos" a distinctive and original flavor. It's a free-wheeling hand-crafted film that detractors may call amateurish -- but those who get the joke will call inspired.

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