Gentlemen Broncos tells the story of Benjamin (Michael Angarano), a teenage, homeschooled boy who aspires to become a published science fiction writer. He attends a writers camp where he meets Chevalier (Clement), Benjamin's favorite sci/fi writer. It is at this camp that Benjamin is given the opportunity to have his work finally published in a writer contest to be judged by Chevalier himself. Reluctant to have his work read at first, Benjamin is convinced by others on the trip to do it.
Meanwhile, Chevalier is having trouble of his own. His latest work has been rejected by his publishers. He is on the brink of losing his publisher if he doesn't produce better material. Desperate to further his career, Chevalier turns to one of the contest entries. After reading just a few pages of Benjamin's story, he does the unthinkable and steals it and turns it into his own.
Benjamin is unaware of the actions taken by his idol, and after the camp he returns home to his mother (Jennifer Coolidge) who has signed up Benjamin in a sort of "big brother" program. Benjamin's guardian is Dusty (Mike White), a curly haired throwback to the 80s whose hobbies include snakes, blow darts, and checking out Benjamin's mother.
I think I'm going to stop going into the later plot points of the film. Just a few quick notes, Benjamin tries to get his book turned into a low budget movie by some of his writers camp buddies, he tries to help out his mom, a struggling a fashion designer, and we see more of Chevalier and Benjamin going back and forth with the book after it is released. Oh, and there are some reenactments from the book, both from Benjamin's perspective and from Chevalier. Sam Rockwell plays the main character, Bronco, in both.
This film just fell flat on its face in my opinion. There are several aspects that are just glaringly wrong. For instance, the main character of Benjamin is so bland, uninteresting, and serves only one purpose of writing the story. He does virtually nothing through the entire film. He is shy, introverted, and just lets whatever happen. It is only when he finds out Chevalier has plagiarized his work that he shows some emotion. In both Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, the main character is quirky, unique, and entertaining. Here we do have a very interesting character in Chevalier, but he plays a lesser character.
Another flaw lies within the other secondary characters surrounding Benjamin. The two other teens that he hangs with are Tabatha and Lonnie. They are annoying, mean, and odd to the point of being uncomfortable. Lonnie's facial expressions are so bizarre, unnecessary, and plain hard to look at that I immediately disliked the character. Tabatha, who looks more normal, is unpleasant and has very little emotion, and when she does it is very forced. These characters are so unlikable that is made me dislike Benjamin for putting up with them. It's okay for Chevalier to be mean, because he is the villain, if he can be called that. These two are just weird and not good for the film.
The scenes from the science fiction story about Bronco start off strange, but I didn't mind. Then things just go over the top and it's hard to stay focused. I thought they could have added so much more to the story but they didn't work for me. I love Sam Rockwell, but these scenes were weak, unorganized, and too weird for my taste. I know the story is supposed to be weird, but it was unnecessary.
The story could be used for a much better film, but the execution is horrendous. The writing is flat and isn't really funny. This movie is supposed to be a comedy. What we have here is a major flop. It doesn't succeed in the areas it needed to. What concerns me most is how much of a fall Hess has taken. His films are getting more and more out there. I am not opposed to strange cinema, but it has to have a point. There is nothing learned here. Maybe that homeschooling produces strange kids, science fiction writers are also strange, and that the Midwest is, well, strange. Avoid this film if you can.
