In Park City' Miss 1984' Try RADIO FREE STEVE (and some free tequila)!

Greetings, meat popsicles! ROBOGEEK here, a safe distance from the madness that is Park City in the throes of the Sundance Film Festival - a spectacle I had the pleasure of living through some eight years ago, just before it became a nightmare (the year of EL MARIACHI and HARD-BOILED, to be precise; ah, those were the days...).

Many of you up in the frozen north may, well, be a little sick of the frozen north - and the fact that it has been consumed by all manner of Hollywood types with their SUVs, mobile phones and pretension. Not that I blame you; hell, even ol' Robo gets sick of pretension (at least when it's not his own).

Anyway, as much as it pains me to deviate from my perceived role as resident film snob and cinelitist, I can't help but recommend a little nugget of joy that is as devoid of pretension as anything this side of TromaDance (and if you didn't read El Cosmico's story on that yesterday, you damn well should).

RADIO FREE STEVE is a little indie film (actually video) from Our Fair City of Austin, directed by Jules Beesley. In their review yesterday, VARIETY called it "the funniest thing to come out of Texas youth culture since SLACKER." (I kid you not; read the review for yourself by clicking here.)

As VARIETY astutely notes, it's sort of a Bizarro-World collision between ROAD WARRIOR and SMOKEY & THE BANDIT, in the guise of a "lost" 1984 independent film restored by a modern Euro-trash auteur. But what it really is is a love letter to the STAR WARS generation who grew up in the late '70s and early '80s - a sort of dadaist pop kaleidoscope of tongue-in-cheek, self-aware (and self-effacing) gleeful stupidity, chock-full of demographic-specific references and in-jokes.

Quite intentionally, this is a film that can only really be enjoyed by a relative few - but those few will have a hell of a lot of fun (particularly if it's in the context of a crowded late show filled with an alcohol-assisted target audience). Granted, narrative hiccups and plot potholes abound (the third act is... shaky, to say the least), but this isn't a movie for film purists or nitpickers. It's just an unabashed 82 minutes of fun.

Honestly, this is a movie I was afraid I'd loathe, and probably would have never seen if it weren't for the fact that I'm acquainted with one of the producers (caveat!). But much to my surprise, I found myself laughing out loud - which is something I'm rarely compelled to do during a movie (just ask my girlfriend... or Mouth).

So if you're wandering Park City looking for some sort of escape from the mountain-scaped madness - and could use a visit back to the early '80s - check out one of the following screenings today or tomorrow:

Tell 'em Robogeek sent ya!

- ROBOGEEK

P.S.: For more info, check out www.radiofreesteve.com (it's a trip).