Review: Kabluey

Last week I was reading about the down-fall of the Indy (Independent) movie. The author lamented that where Indy Comedies were fresh a few years ago, they are now stale, pretentious, and formulaic. After reading the article, I decided to go check out an Indy comedy, last year’s “Kabluey.” The film lacked the pretensive nature of a Juno-there were no wise-cracking, age weary protagonist. Just a confused, immature 32 year old man-ling who learned a few of life lessons while roasting in a blue costume.
The film’s plot is basic. The protagonist, Salman, goes to live with his sister in-law and their two homicidal toddlers while his brother is stationed over in Iraq. Salman tries baby-sitting, but is a disaster at it. Then his sister-in-law gets him a job as the mascot to a failing Internet start-up. Day after day, he stands at the side of the road trying to hand out flyers (he can’t grip things with the costume on). He grows up a little and helps out his sister-in-law before his brother gets home. Ok, its formulaic, but isn't tiresome. The acting, especially by the lead (played by the writer-director, Scott Prendergast) sparkles. The screenplay could be bogged down by blue suit jokes, but somehow it doesn’t. Chris Parnell, always a delight, plays a small lead.