Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Director: Jack Henry Robbins
Writer: Nunzio Randazzo, Jack Henry Robbins
Producer: Delaney Schenker
Stars: Kerri Kenney, Charlyne Yi, Thomas Lennon, Mark Proksch, Cameron Simmons, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Jake Head, Christian Drerup, Rahm Braslaw, Mason McNulty
Review Score:
Summary:
After receiving a camcorder for Christmas 1987, 12-year-old Ralph inadvertently records an odd assortment of late night TV clips over his mother and father’s wedding video.
Review:
“VHYes” has a loose story arc connecting its eclectic content. For Christmas 1987, Ralph receives a camcorder from his parents. As one would expect of any mildly mischievous 12-year-old in Ralph’s position, the boy promptly begins using the camera to record everyday antics with his best bud Josh in addition to snippets of late night TV shows, movies, and commercials.
Grabbing the first videocassette his anxious hands can find, Ralph unknowingly records over mom and dad’s wedding video. In between static-filled cuts of aerobic workout routines and ads for cream that can turn you into a contortionist, we witness random blips of Ralph’s parents enjoying a carefree dream come true. In his present however, Ralph’s superficially happy home movies start capturing contemplative moments and uncomfortable clues indicating reality isn’t as rosy for mom and dad.
The marriage quietly crumbling around Ralph’s routine only occupies about 10 minutes or so of the movie. The core composition of “VHYes,” as well as its cool creative hook, actually comes from its comedic carnival of kooky clips. From a shy teen interviewing a local punk band with her parents on public access to a “Law & Order” knockoff where an eccentric professor taunts two homicide detectives, “VHYes” runs a full sprint marathon through a perfectly parodied time tunnel of 1980s nostalgia.
Shot on VHS and digital Betacam, director Jack Henry Robbins and his terrifically talented collaborators turn “VHYes” into an exceptionally executed recreation of Skinemax sleaze, USA Up All Night absurdity, and snoozy PBS puff programs. I’m floored that someone born in 1989 like Robbins can so accurately and affectionately represent an era he wasn’t even alive to experience firsthand. On throwback entertainment value alone, “VHYes” makes for a delightful pairing with “The WNUF Halloween Special.”
But wait! There’s more!
While much of the movie dizzily bounces between daffy pieces of non-sequitur silliness, a larger narrative gradually pokes through the merry madness. In an unsubtly winking talk show segment, an interviewee alarmingly predicts that making cameras commonplace (*cough cough, smartphones*) will distort reality as people experience life through a screen instead of their eyes. Paralleling Ralph’s plot, a cautionary theme of escapist fantasies willfully covering inconvenient truths forms through the clip collection by juxtaposing melancholy with mirth.
I won’t go as far as others have in hailing “VHYes” as brilliant with the way its deceptive chaos kind of comes together. Two of Robbins’ previous short films are repurposed here, indicating this smorgasbord of sassy TV tripe isn’t as deliberately intertwined as one might wish to believe. That doesn’t diminish the film’s heartfelt sincerity in the slightest. But how much thematic cohesion is carefully orchestrated versus how much may be happenstance is a matter of “your mileage may vary” speculation. Some viewers will have more lifting to do than others to find linked meanings in the movie.
No matter what, I can say for certain that “VHYes” is side-splittingly funny and a hell of a lot of fun. Of course, some segments aren’t as smart or as convincing as others, but there isn’t an outright dud in the lot.
Mark Proksch continues his stranglehold on the ‘mundane schlub’ characterization he brought to “What We Do in the Shadows” and “Better Call Saul” as an ‘Antiques Roadshow’ host who hilariously mistakes an ordinary bowl for a barbaric surgical tool. Kerri Kenney channels Ana Gasteyer’s monotone NPR host as a Bob Ross clone whose “happy little clouds” unexpectedly morph into a mural of Dennis Rodman performing oral sex underneath an alien invasion.
The biggest standout for me is Cameron Simmons playing a hapless ham actor in two terrible softcore porn movies. “VHYes” avoids the typical trap of trying too hard to force feed a 1980s feel. Instead, Robbins allows the actors, set dressing, and camerawork to coax out comedy more casually. Simmons becomes the best example of this as his scenes seem to hinge on the awkward improvisation of an authentically inexperienced actor as much as scripted jokes. The result is a performance that feels naturally noobish instead of like an overdramatized pastiche.
“VHYes” gets a bit carried away with its own cleverness. But at only 71 minutes, it ends before the gag grows too long in the tooth. Featuring a surprising amount of social commentary echoing 2020 climates both political and environmental, global warming deniers without senses of humor will probably be rubbed the wrong way. For the rest of us though, “VHYes” captures the offbeat energy of an Alamo Drafthouse pre-show package in feature film form, which is just the right recipe for a goofily great movie to enjoy with a good-humored friend.
Review Score: 75
If you want to see impossible amounts of blood explode crimson colors like the world’s worst version of a gender reveal, well, “Abigail” at least has that.