A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids television show.
Chuck says:
Cognitive Disillusionment and Toxic Positivity, as well as a deep-seated hatred for Barney the Dinosaur and similar characters are at the core of Casper Kelly’s “Buddy.” Effectively combining social commentary, dark humor and graphic violence, I’d be hard-pressed to think of a recent film that kept me on my toes like this one. The subversive screenplay by Jamie King and Kelly shifts effortlessly from one distinct “reality” to another, the rules of the narrative changing with them, resulting in a movie that keeps the viewer on their heels.
Things get off to a shaky start as Kelly takes far too long setting up the premise. Grainy video footage splashes across a screen cropped to resemble a T.V. screen, as an episode of the kid’s program “Buddy” begins. The titular character (voice by Keegan-Michael Key) is a unicorn from a magical land who appears when his name is spoken. With cheery songs and an overtly saccharine demeanor, the orange, one-horned beast, along with four child co-stars, teach viewers basic lessons of kindness and confidence.
However, when one of them, Josh (Luke Speakman) goes missing, Freddy (Delaney Quinn) begins to notice something sinister lurking beneath Buddy’s surface. Her worst fears are confirmed when she sees him strangling Nurse Nancy (Phuong Kubacki) and disposing of her body. Not wanting to share her fate, Freddy, Oliver (Tristan Borders), Hannah (Madison Skyy Polan) and Wade (Caleb Williams) attempt to escape from the show, which winds up being more difficult than anticipated.
Meanwhile, somewhere in suburbia, Grace (Cristin Milioti) is dealing with a crisis of her own. The mother of two boys, she suddenly gets an unshakable feeling that she’s the mother of a third child. Whether this is true or not, and if so, where this kid might be, are questions she cannot answer. However, deep within, she knows something is missing, a belief that doesn’t sit well with her husband (Topher Grace).
How these two stories intersect is just one of many inventive twists up Kelly’s sleeve. Before all is said and done, the film takes a hard left into the surreal and never truly abandons that sensibility. Up is down, right is left and logic has taken a hiatus as Buddy continues to search for the runaway kids while Grace is impacted in ways I cannot reveal.
Buddy proves successful in his quest and the movie’s violence, though stylized, is at times excessive. Though not gratuitous, its shock factor is drawn from the fact it occurs within a world created for the innocent. Seeing the “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” inspired sets and characters splattered with gore and hacked up by an orange unicorn is not only bracing put darkly humorous as well.
This approach dominates the last half of this brisk film, its violence and incongruous nature escalating as we go. Kelly and King’s intent seems to be twofold. The insincere nature of the declarations espousing the virtues of sound moral behavior repeatedly point out the problems of toxic positivity. But the sequences in which Freddy and her friends come to the realization that appearances can be deceiving, adults cannot be trusted and that the world can be a cruel place is where the movie draws its power. This is a coming-of-age tale that revels in the harshness it portrays, ripping to shreds the childhood fantasies so many youth-oriented shows are based on.
A story the Brothers Grimm would be proud to call their own, “Buddy” gleefully exposes its deluded young characters to the thorny world of adulthood. Though some may object to the movie’s graphic approach, it could be argued that harsh times dictate harsh tactics.
3 Stars
