Visioneers

So, yeah I can't take credit for finding this movie at all. I was out of options at the redbox and picked it on a whim because I (usually) like Zack Galifianakis' roles and sense of humor. This movie is from a first-time (more or less) writer and director team that are also brothers. The movie was almost brilliant.

The movie is about the main character, George Washington Wisterhammerman, who lives in a sort of alternate universe where he works for the most successful business in the history of the world as a 'visioneer'; Where the middle finger is a friendly greeting and everyone around is exploding from built up stress. People start to deal with this worl-wide exploding phenomenon in different ways and eventually the higher powers step in to take control.

At first I was a little bit ancy while I was racking my brain and trying to figure out the big secret behind this parallel universe and completely missing the point. When the movie was over, I literally did a double take (well, almost literally) and was like I totally missed that it was satirical the entire time. It made the movie move to a whole new level. Ironically, my mind was working like the targets of the satire! After realizing my own simple mindedness I realized how much better of a film this actually was. Like I mentioned, it was almost pure brilliance. The story had a lot of potential and capitalized on most of it. It was like The Invention of Lying but with more satire and up a couple of levels. More could've been done but the movie was pretty well-rounded for the most part.

Galifianakis - I'm determined to learn the spelling of his name - did a standup job. Not entirely different from what we saw in Kind of a Funny Story but proves that he can do dry comedy just as easily as slapstick. I find him extremely awesome and enjoyed this movie, once I realized what I was actually watching.

Judy Greer was also very refreshing in the movie. I almost didn't recognize her. She's perfected the bitchy best friend of the female lead but it was extremely nice to see her in a different role. She's proving to be quite the character actress as well.

I had questions about the locations chosen for filming and had a nice laugh when I read that the directors used their parents' house in order to get in under budget. Nice move guys. The filming and scenery felt like it was a higher budget movie that it really was and so they obviously did a nice job in that way.

I'd warn anyone who wants to watch this to go into looking for the symbolism and satire instead of taking it for face value. Self-depreciating humor is also a necessity since we are all undoubtedly the targets of this satire. "There are 1,200 minutes of productivity remaining until the weekend".