Visioneers
Directed by: Jared Drake
Written by: Brandon Drake
Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Judy Greer, Fay Masterson, James LeGros

My first introduction to Zach Galifianakis was through his association with Tim and Eric of the Adult Swim show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. His bizarre and deadpan sense of humour along with his trademark unkempt beard gave him instant appeal and a strong cult following, but it was not yet clear if the mainstream was quite ready for him. Now, with the upcoming Todd Phillips movie The Hangover about to usher him into major multiplexes, it seems that Galifianakis has officially made it as a comedy star, whether audiences are ready or not.

Up to this point, the majority of his acting experience has been on the small screen, but aside from a few minor roles in What Happens in Vegas and Into The Wild, he also headlined an interesting indie film from first-time writer/director team Jared and Brandon Drake called Visioneers. The film played at various festivals last year but has yet to be released on DVD. I was lucky enough to catch it at Over The Top Fest in Toronto just last week, and although overall it had some problems, it is very smart and it certainly puts Galifianakis’s comedic talents to great use.

Visioneers is an offbeat comedy set in a dystopian world where corporations have essentially reduced everyone’s lives to a dreary, monotonous existence. Galifianakis plays George Washington Winsterhammerman, a level 3 visioneer with the Jeffers Corp, where he sits in a plain white office and goes through bureaucratic red tape all day long. Basically, everyone thinks they are getting a lot done, but nothing much seems to happen. A loudspeaker periodically updates the workers about how many hours of productivity are remaining in the week. Workers greet each other with the “Jeffers Salute”, a gesture that involves extending the middle finger at the recipient. This perfect world is shattered when people’s heads start exploding from the stress of their lives. George starts having strange dreams, and when his doctor tells him that it could be the first symptom of this growing epidemic, he starts to worry that he might be next.

There are a lot of movies that feel thematically and stylistically similar to Visioneers, everything from Brazil, I Heart Huckabees, and Being John Malkovich, to both of Mike Judge’s live action films, Office Space and Idiocracy. There’s also a surreal nature to the humour and some of the characters that felt very reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite; I only found out afterward that producer Jory Weitz was also an executive producer on Napoleon Dynamite. Even so, I have to give the Drake Brothers credit for creating a movie that fits neatly alongside these other great flicks without being overly derivative of them.

The satire in the movie is very well done, and a lot of the absurdist comedy is clever, if not necessarily laugh out loud hilarious. Judy Greer is particularly memorable as George’s wife Michelle, who is essentially being brainwashed into buying every product imaginable in the hopes of finding happiness. Her role feels a bit like an extension of her character Kitty Sanchez on Arrested Development. Then there is James LeGros playing George’s pole-vaulting kid brother, along with many other oddball supporting characters.

Galifianakis, for his part, carries the majority of the film, whether it’s his straight-faced reaction to the zaniness going on around him or his own random meltdowns. (It’s almost worth the price of admission just to see him and Greer trash their kitchen together.) Still, his performance has a sense of melancholy behind it (which is enhanced by a score from The Polyphonic Spree’s Tim DeLaughter), although he does seem to underplay things a little in the latter half of the film.

In the end, the main problem with Visioneers is that there is all this great window dressing around a story that doesn’t really go anywhere. For me, it kind of felt like there was so much emphasis on being quirky and having weird non sequiturs that there wasn’t enough solid plot or character development to see it through. By the film’s conclusion, the premise felt over-extended, and some of the jokes (like the literal pronunciation of the word “chaos”) were wearing thin. I tend to think that it would have made for a better short film, but on the other hand, it’s possible that it will gel better with repeat viewings.

This is certainly not to say that that Jared and Brandon Drake are lacking in talent. I do think this is an impressive debut, and I will be looking forward to seeing what they come up with next. I even look forward to catching Visioneers again when it eventually hits DVD (Amazon says it will be out on July 21st). Either way, if you’re a fan of Zach Galifianakis or any of the aforementioned movies, you should definitely give Visioneers a shot. I think this is going to be a movie that slowly gains momentum as more and more people find out about it, and you don’t want to be the last one to the party, do you? — Sean

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