Splinterheads is an independent comedy/drama written and directed by Brant Sersen (Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story).  It’s about a loser named Justin (Thomas Middleditch) who’s lived at home since his father died taking care of his mom (Lea Thompson) and his grandfather (Edmund Lyndeck) who officially becomes the world’s oldest man in the opening minutes of the movie.  He’s tormented by the local cop who his mother recently broke up with (Christopher McDonald).  One day on the way to work he stops at a gas station and a beautiful con woman named Galaxy (Rachael Taylor) rips him off.  That night he and his friend visit the carnival that has just set up in town and he encounters her working there.  The next day he comes upon her again walking along the road and joins her on a geocaching trip, until it’s interrupted by her fellow Splinterhead (the term refers to the carnival workers that don’t run the rides or sell concessions but who have to con people into playing games, etc.) abusive boyfriend (Dean Winters).

Trailer below:

First off this movie has a lot going for it.  The cast is the most obvious.  Even though it’s mainly a cast of beginners with some well known names scattered in, most of the cast does a really great job and makes the movie what it is.  Two of the “names” Christopher McDonald and Dean Winters both do incredible jobs as they always do, but they’re also playing familiar characters.  You may recognize Edmund Lyndeck, although probably don’t know his name.  Here he’s the world’s oldest man, and he’s had minor but memorable roles in lots of stuff like Road Trip.  I’ve actually worked with Edmund before and he’s a good guy and I really enjoyed his turn here.  He was probably one of the funniest things in the movie.

Rachel Taylor as Galaxy

But the real star here is Rachel Taylor, the Australian actress playing American here just oozes charisma.  The filmmakers do use her looks to their advantage, as seen in the screencap above, but she doesn’t depend on her looks and delivers the outstanding performance of the film.  Unfortunately she is often stuck playing against the lead played limply by Thomas Middleditch.  Middleditch is the weak spot in the cast, and as the lead it’s unfortunate.  His performance could have used something, it’s just lacking.  I would have liked to have seen Taylor play opposite Winters more and get a little more into their relationship.  It’s never quite clear why she’s still with him.

Another thing I liked about this movie was it’s relatively high production values.  It’s clearly low budget, but they made the most out of it.  Especially cinematographer Michael Simmonds who shot some wonderful stuff and made the most out of some terrific visually interesting locations in Long Island and upstate New York.

There are some downsides to the film however.  Along with the aforementioned lacking lead.  There’s a lot of forced jokes and often the script tries too hard to be funny instead of just letting things flow naturally.  It’s a little hacky at times.  Also for a movie that’s heavily set at a carnival I would have really liked some behind the scenes sort of stuff.  There isn’t really any sort of showing how things work, even if it was just something brief like in Adventureland, it would have been very appreciated.

Overall the movie is mostly enjoyable and I’d recommend it.  You can rent it on Amazon Video On Demand or on . You can also purchase the DVD from Amazon: