NARCISSISTIC REVIEW OF BEST WORST MOVIE

year: 2009 rating: ***1/2

A vehicle in which yours truly appears for an epic fifteen seconds (of fame), as one of many fanatical fans of the 1990 so-bad-it's-good horror flick TROLL 2 (having written a fan fiction sequel script), this documentary glosses through the making of an amazingly terrible but hilariously engrossing gem with neatly edited footage from the catastrophic cult phenomenon while centering primarily on today's George Hardy, who played Michael, the patriarch of the Waits family, swapping homes with a local Nilbog (spell that backwards) clan and eventually battling the town's sinister residents: a horde of goblins, not trolls. But that review is for another time. Let's center on BEST WORST MOVIE...

Michael and Me, 2007

Hardy, a successful dentist in Alabama, got the role while practicing in Utah – the rest is bad movie history! And our roving director is Michael "Joshua Waits" Stephenson... the child actor who starred in the film. He, along with creative cinematographers Katie Graham and Carl Indriago, follow George from his sweet home Alabama to packed TROLL 2 screenings across America, winding up at an unsuccessful "rude awakening" layover at a celebrity autograph show.

Seeming a bit exploitative about the less fortunate elderly actors in Utah while neglecting two important alumni, the "father/son" duo infectiously laugh off their past with younger cast members, including Darren Ewing, whose infamously adored "Oh My God!" scene went beyond-viral on You Tube. Although it's Italian director Claudio Fragasso who steals the show as the essential grouchy antagonist... he's not sure why T2, written by his wife Rosella Drudi, is considered so awful, while Hardy and Stephenson embrace this pop culture explosion, using their documentary as an outlet: with mostly captivating results!