Snackers

(2004)

directed by Jeff Pickett

reviewed by Jonathan Rocks

01.18.2008

“Snackers” is a student produced film that comes from the mecca of all film schools, USC. While such a well funded school may afford its budding filmmakers with great equipment, an experienced crew and decent actors, there is one thing that the filmmakers must bring to the tables on their own: a clearly thought out story.

The film is about a man, Chuck Livingston, played by character actor/scene stealer Jack Kehler. Chuck seems to be the bane of his family's existence, being treated as something of an embarrassing failure. Chuck sits around his house all day trying to crack a formula to replicate the taste, and more importantly the texture of a Snickers bar. He reasons that, if he made them himself he'd be paying about ten cents per bar. Furthermore, he could package them and sell them as “Snackers” bars. Trouble is; Chuck's reason for taking on such an endeavor is never explained beyond our intimation that he is just weird.

The Livingston family lives in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood and are apparently not hurting for money. So why, then, does he feel an obsessive need to try to accomplish something so monumentally unimportant? The answer seems to be that it's simply a character trait, shoe-horned in to add some quirk to this film. The story lacks a real character arc and falls a bit flat in the end.

The cinematography and acting in the film were superb. Though Jack Kehler, who stole the show from Philip Seymour Hoffman in 2002's “Love Liza”, proves without a doubt that he is the best thing about this film.

Score: 2 out of 5