The Beaver Trilogy

2000 documentary with reenactments

Rating: 16/20

Plot: In the late-70's director Trent Harris ran into Groovin' Gary, a guy from the titular Utah town who had ventured to a Salt Lake City television station with the hope of getting to do some impressions on the air. Harris filmed him a bit and then was eventually called to film a talent show in Beaver and hear Groovin' Gary's Olivia Newton John impression. That's the first third of this trilogy. Sean Penn and Crispin Glover reenactments and narrative gap-filling make up the other two-thirds.

This starts as an oddity, the sort of oddball human interest thing that you can poke fun at with your college friends, but it surprisingly morphs into something with a lot more depth and a little to say about our fears of unleashing our true selves, society's fears of anything unusual, and some people's almost absurd need to be famous. It fits perfectly with what you see on some reality shows actually. Groovin' Gary's got a kind of infectious personality and is really likable even if when you get the assumption that there's something not quite right with the guy. You have to enjoy how much he enjoys his own impersonations though. See, he's Beaver's Rich Little, and he gives us a little Barry Manilow, Sylvester Stallone, and John Wayne while only teasing the raw genius of the Olivia Newton John that will come later. The Groovin' Gary segment includes the interview in the television studio parking lot and a look at his car to a scene where he's having a woman at a funeral home helping him with his make-up and finally the performance as Olivia Newton Don which is just the right kind of abysmal. You're unsure about the director's intentions here. Is it all a joke? If it is, Groovin' Gary obviously isn't in on it which might make you a little sad for the guy. Then, you get the Sean Penn segment. Penn's essentially doing an impression of Groovin' Gary, a reenactment but with a few sneaky little scenes which help form a bit of a back story for the guy and a denouement that is nearly devastating. Penn's good. He's got the laugh down at least. This middle section, as well as the final third, adds a couple interesting twists. First, it shows the filmmaker and an associate a lot more which does help you understand their intentions a little. You have to wonder what Trent Harris is trying to say about himself as a filmmaker here. He's almost shown as a villain in the fictional parts of this story. Second, it develops the principal character, first seen with a sweet mustache and brown leather jacket in the real footage as the talent show master of ceremonies, a guy really getting into his job. In the enhanced retellings, we get to see the principal a bit more. And then, there's the third segment with Crispin Glover who is perfectly awkward in his turn as Groovin' Gary. The imitation isn't as accurate as Sean Penn's, but there's an artificiality added to the whole thing that adds another dimension to the story. And you get to see Glover perform as Olivia Newton Bomb which I'm surprised isn't something that killed me instantly. Glover also does Marlon Brando and John Wayne impressions that will make you shit your pants. Speaking of pants-shitting, there's an actor in this who gave about the best performance in a bathroom (this modifier is not misplaced, by the way) that you'll ever see as "Guy Who Has to Poop" (this modifier is).  It's the kind of magic that has to be seen to be believed. "This is an emergency! What are you doing in there--making a claim?" There's another guy who looks a little like Carrot Top who has a speaking part but probably shouldn't. His lone line is an exclamation--"Oh my shit!"--that was similar to my thoughts when I saw Olivia Newton Bomb. This movie is very low-budget (the Sean Penn section apparently had a budget of 100 bucks), but the way it transforms from a silly novelty to something with some sneaky depth makes it a rewarding experience. Great stuff, and not just for Crispin Glover maniacs.

Trent Harris also directed Ruben and Ed, also with Crispin Glover. If you haven't seen that yet, stop what you're doing and watch it right now.