Nate At The Movies

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Now that I’ve seen A Minecraft Movie, I’m gonna be really annoyed by all of the Minecraft-related lines at the theater whenever I go to see something else, starting with the 10 minute wait for my Peace Tea before Freaky Tales today. It was nice, though, to subsequently head into a way calmer theater for, yes, a better movie, too.

Though it couldn’t hit the comedic chops of the Minecraft Meme Machine, the film was still plenty funny and flourished in creating a vibe and a spooky, special Oakland setting. Moneyball and the We Believe Warriors educated me on Oakland’s underdog mentality before today, and the love for both Oakland and the underdog was thick throughout this film. I loved how each story found a different underdog to celebrate, be it punks fighting Nazi skinheads, female rappers going band for band with misogynistic rap legends, or Sleepy Floyd’s Warriors fighting all the way back against the Showtime Lakers before Sleepy went on his own adventure, which was thankfully fabricated.

The connective tissue between these stories was occasionally lacking, but understanding the difficulties of connecting true stories like these, I can forgive Fleck and Boden. I also wished the stories had had more connective tissue sooner; other than noticing Clint walking through the diner with Tina and Lucid in the first chapter, there was a lack of interconnectedness. The last chapter more than made up for it, though, and it featured the best story and action of the bunch. Sleepy’s revenge was sweet to watch, and the script finally started to bring all of these characters together. I would’ve liked more of Danger Zone, who felt a little left out in the last act (other than sharing a Giant Burger with Sleepy), but I was glad to see the rest of the players get involved.

The performances were good across the board, though Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis really held it down in their respective underdog roles. I also loved Tom Hanks’ video store owner; for such a little role, he was so memorable and charismatic, though I still want to know what the top underdog movie of all time is.

I’m not sure I believe Freaky Tales to be the surprise great movie that Sundance audiences and Letterboxd believe it to be—at least on first watch—but I still had a great time. Fleck and Boden’s vision and direction was confident and clear, and I loved seeing a creative and honorific story like this brought to the screen. I’d call Freaky Tales one of the best underdog films since…honestly Moneyball, probably. Well done, Oakland (also, why isn’t that Danger Zone song from the credits on Apple Music yet? I’m upset).