Machine
Bert Kreischer is not a name that strikes me as one in showbiz. And having no clue as to his whereabouts professionally made me approach this film The Machine as this person cannot play the protagonist.
Peter Atencio’s action-comedy, The Machine, is one film that I found very funny and I was impressed by how well it held my attention for most of its 112 minute runtime. There’s no denying that at 112 minutes, the film runs at least 20 minutes too long, that the energetic humor of the first half of the film is not quite as constant in the second; however, given Peter Atencio’s distinct and straightforward comedy drive, it was not nearly as excessive as it could have been.
In the film, Kreischer, who may be portraying a more flamboyant version of himself, is a stand-up comedian, nicknamed “The Machine”, who became well-known for a story he told, as he was in his youth, about how he went to a student trip, got drunk with the Russian mafia, and later robbed a train loaded with passengers. Quite laughable right?
That’s the thing, the core tale of The Machine is these two stories of miserable life which his family lived which are hardly comical. In retrospect, he must have played for Jimmy Tatro in hard-board days when he was a young 20-something smoking hot Bert, but the acting was not peculiar in at least the flashbacks about his beautifully unpredictable younger self and all his 90s pop culture.
It is drawn out narrative exposition that we can do without. Tatro however, has this amazing charisma, that is independent from the personality of the character he plays, but if the Kevin Biegel/Scotty Landes’s script could have cut out a lot of this, The Machine would have been much better paced.
What is left, though, isn’t quite revolutionary, or edge in most cases funny cinema, but there is an allure to Kreischer’s expected story in the future and the fact that although he is relatively rough around the edges is a good thing as he is quite entertaining. That expected story then takes Bert and his father Albert (Mark Hamill, who looks to be enjoying himself) to Russia where the sultry villainess in heels Irina (Iva Babic, who is also in the lodge just right) instructs Bert to go back in time for more than twenty years and find a watch that her mob father owned.
There is an entire subplot surrounding Irina and her brother Robert Maaser with his sculpted cheekbones who wish to locate the watch in order to demonstrate the right to be next in the family business but it actually just plays like filler so that the film can try to squeeze in a few more conflict, and hence blood rubies.
There is not really anything in the movie worthy of being viewed on the big screen if any movie qualifies as a candidate that is ideal for streaming then this is it. However, credit is given to Sony Pictures for bringing out this movie in theatres, applying the much appreciated mindset of the past decade when less mainstream films like this one would actually get some very rare glimpses no matter how brief the actual theatrical release turned out to be.
Kreischer fans are likely the target demographic of The Machine, and I expect their appreciation for his comedic style will be very high, but for those who have not seen such style before (which is me) this is worth something in the way of easy laughs in what is probably an ego massing piece for its creators but thankfully contains the right amount of comedy.
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