Ron Goossens, Low Budget Stuntman
Director: Steffen Haars, Flip Van der Kuil
Writer: Steffen Haars, Flip Van der Kuil
Cast: Tim Haars, Bo Maerten, Michiel Romeyn, Henry van Loon, Maartje van de Wetering, Waldemar Torenstra, Tygo Gernandt, Dennie Christian, Thomas Acda
Part of: /slash Filmfestival
Seen on: 5.5.2017
[Review by cornholio.]

Plot:
Ron (Tim Haars) didn’t amount to much in his life. He does have a wife, Angela (Maartje van de Wetering), he at least used to like at some point, but by now his life mostly consists of getting drunk and getting involved in a dangerous stunt while inebriated. But when one of his stunts is filmed, put online and becomes a viral sensation, Ron finds himself in high demand as a stuntman who costs little and risks a lot. When Ron discovers that Angela slept with pretty much everybody and isn’t interested in him anymore, he wants to try everything to get her back. So Angela tells him he needs to prove his manliness by seducing Bo Maerten (Bo Maerten), the biggest filmstar around.

Ron Goossens, Low Budget Stuntman is the kind of film that should leave you laughing while you ponder the tragedy of Ron’s existence. But that concept didn’t really come together for me, so the film fell a little flat, despite quite a few strengths.

The film partly made me laugh and partly cringe. Unfortunately, the latter happened more often than the former. And it wasn’t the sadness that is at the core of Ron’s reckless existence that made me cringe either, but rather some jokes that went beyond my comfort zone.

Even worse, both my laughter and my discomfort covered up the utter sadness that shapes Ron’s existence: alcoholism, desperation and a lack of perspective lead to Ron regularly risking his life for… nothing, really. That is a horrifying thing and it should be horrifying when we see it on screen. But the emotionality of it never really hit home for me.

Nevertheless, the movie was entertaining, even though there were a couple of jokes I would have loved to have cut from the film. Or preferably exchanged them for a few female characters with actual personalities in the film, instead of just being projection spaces for Ron’s issues. My favorite thing about it, were the absolutely hilarious musical interludes with Dennie Christian – especially Broken Wings and Stay Another Day. Those scenes had me in tears and actually made me fall in love with the songs in an entirely new way.

In the end, though, the film didn’t quite win me over, though I wouldn’t mind watching another of Van der Kuil and Haars and Haars’ collaborations.

Summarizing: Not quite where it should be,but not bad.