'Spork' - Review (original) (raw)

Life on the Fringe

Savannah Stehlin as a middle school misfit, with Michael William Arnold as a fellow outsider, in “Spork.”Credit...Spork the Movie, LLC

Spork

Directed by J.B. Ghuman Jr.

Comedy

1h 26m

May 26, 2011

The heroine (and title character) of J. B. Ghuman Jr.’s debut feature, “Spork,” is part of a long line of teenage outcasts stretching from James Dean to Napoleon Dynamite. She has several of the classic markers of outsider status, including a trailer park address and comically bad hair. Oh, and she’s a hermaphrodite.

Mr. Ghuman’s sort-of-musical comedy, which was shown in the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, echoes the styles and sensibilities of more experienced provocateurs like John Waters and John Cameron Mitchell, while falling short of Mr. Waters’s inventiveness and skirting Mr. Mitchell’s propensity to get right in your face. As uplifting stories of tolerance and self-discovery go, “Spork” has a messy appeal, but it’s no “Hairspray.”

That film and stage hit comes to mind, along with the “Step Up” movies and “Glee,” as Spork prepares for a dance contest with the help of her fellow middle school misfits, including a hyperactive mixed-race girl (the scene-stealing Sydney Park) and a gravely sensitive boy (Michael William Arnold). Savannah Stehlin, presumably following Mr. Ghuman’s directions, plays Spork as a largely silent observer, her limpid gray eyes taking in the lightly surreal satire spinning out around her.

Mr. Ghuman’s story is not as predictable as it could have been, and his empathy for his renegade characters (along with his love of cheesy 1980s pop culture) is apparent; “Spork” would have had more impact, though, if he had worked to make his central character a little less of a cipher.

SPORK

Opens on Friday in Manhattan.

Written and directed by J. B. Ghuman Jr.; director of photography, Bradley Stonesifer; edited by Phillip Bartell; music by Casey James and the Staypuft Kid; production design by Nathan Carden; costumes by Samantha Kuester; produced by Christopher Racster, Chad Allen, Honey Labrador and Geric Frost; released by Underhill Entertainment. At the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Savannah Stehlin (Spork), Sydney Park (Tootsie Roll), Rachel Fox (Betsy Byotch), Michael William Arnold (Charlie), Oana Gregory (Loosie Goosie), Beth Grant (Principal Tulip), Elaine Hendrix (Felicia) and Yeardley Smith (Mrs. Danahy).

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