Many mockumentaries abound within the cinematic universe that cover many topics. Subjects such as hard rock, folk music, and even dog shows in Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap and Christopher Guest’s A Mighty Wind and Best in Show. These movies show the hilarity along with the absurd extremes of how these types of genres and events can be effectively lampooned in an entertaining way.
Marathon, the newest mockumentary produced by Hot Tub Mimosas and distributed by Gravitas Ventures, gives us a DIY documentary that gives us an unblinking look at the crazy lives of runners preparing for a local marathon.
An amateur film crew explore the process of five different runners in various stages of their lives and their attempts to complete the same goal: To finish and excel at the Devil’s Canyon Marathon. The trial of each runner varies from being a recent mother, to breaking the marathon record being dressed as a banana, overcoming a bullying sister and the police, and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. The crew also interviews the Devil’s Canyon race director Ed Clap (Jimmy Slonina). The film crew observe the runners three months before and document the runner’s backstories, training, and various other idiosyncrasies up to race day. When race day begins, the runners must deal with their participation (or lack thereof) where they face the unknown in the 26.2 miles they must accomplish.
Co-written and directed by Anthony Guidubaldi and Kevin Strausbaugh, the duo scribes and helms a comic documentary that has middling comedy. This twosome seems to hurl some of the comic elements boldly and with extreme force against a humor wall to see if it sticks. While some of the comic elements stick, quite a few of it misses which is a shame due to the concept being a good one. While comedy is always subjective in the eyes of the viewer and is never easy to create, Mr. Guidubaldi and Strausbaugh should be applauded on their courage alone.
The performances in this film, while forced at times, are adequate. Slonina is his nerdy best as Ed Clap. Kimia Behpoorina is very funny as the quit first “runner” Emilou Paunch. Tavius Cortez is terrific as the sister bullied, endlessly stereotyped Shareef Washington and Andrew Hansen shines as the forceful, cliché-riddled strider Ryan O’Brien.
If you are a maven for marathons, then you may find this entertaining and have some shared empathy. For the casual viewer, you may find some jewels amongst this middling mockumentary.