To mark the release of the zany Unfrosted (2024) here’s a quick run-down of a few films which draw on quirky real-life events and characters to offer up unique screen stories…
Bernie (2011)
Jack Black stars as Bernie Tiede, a humble devotee of mortuary science, who quickly becomes the favourite adopted son of the east Texas town of Carthage when he arrives to take up the role of the assistant funeral director. Unerringly generous in time, money and spirit, Bernie’s inability to say ‘no’ to anyone takes a strange and dark turn when he befriends rich, curmudgeonly widow Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine).
Interspersed with humorous commentary from Cathage’s actual residents and enhanced by superb performances by Black, MacLaine, and Matthew McConaughey as the blowhard DA, this film is as much about life in this small corner of Texas (“behind the pine curtain”) as it is about the enigmatic Bernie Tiede. It’s also a good example of how to make a “baddie” protagonist sympathetic or, at least, empathetic.
Director: Richard Linklater
Written by: Richard Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth
Based on: Midnight in the Garden of East Texas by Skip Hollandsworth (Texas Monthly, January 1998)
Driven (2018)
Before Marty McFly and Doc Brown ensured the DeLorean’s place in movie folklore by sending it back to the future, there was one man and his dream. That man was John DeLorean, an automobile pioneer, whose maverick ways led to him leaving Ford to start his own company to fulfil his dream of a car of the future “with wings”. However, it is not DeLorean who’s the subject of this energetic film but his new neighbour, the hapless Jim Hoffman, a pilot, drug trafficker and reluctant FBI informant.
The story takes in DeLorean’s doomed attempts to get his beloved creation into production. However, the focus is on Hoffman’s manoeuvrings as he balances his friendship with DeLorean and the demands of his FBI handler, all while trying to keep out of jail. As DeLorean gets more desperate to keep his company afloat, Hoffman’s worlds collide when the opportunity arises to strike a deal with a drug kingpin. Benefitting from compelling turns by Lee Pace as the preening, aloof DeLorean and a wide-eyed Jason Sudeikis as the “loser with a heart” Hoffman, this intriguing tale is far from your typical biopic.
Director: Nick Hamm
Writers: Colin Bateman and Alejandro Carpio
Take a look at the trailer:
Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (2022)
There was a time when the humble pinball machine was banned in New York. In 1942, it was caught up in Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s clampdown on delinquency and the Mob. However, 35 years later, one man, pinball enthusiast and GQ writer Roger Sharpe became its saviour, playing a pivotal role in getting the law changed. Set in the 1970s and filled with genuine warmth and humour, the film is a charming love letter to the simple joy of pinball, as well as its rich history.
Mike Faist is the charismatic, earnest, and moustachioed Sharpe, whose budding relationship with single mother Ellen (Crystal Reed) complements the main story. Anchoring the piece is Dennis Boutsikaris as the older Sharpe recounting his experiences to an unseen interviewer. Overall, it’s a great example of how a quirky story well told doesn’t need lashings of violence, sex and bad language. The most risqué thing here is Sharpe’s love of his local adult book store – not for the porn; just because that’s the only place he can find a (bootleg) pinball machine to play!
Directors: Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg
Writers: Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg
Masterminds (2015)
A real-life $17 million heist is the jumping off point for this zany comedy. Zach Galifianakis stars as David Ghantt, a dim, good-hearted armoured car driver, whose crush on his feisty colleague Kelly (Kristen Wiig) leads to him pulling off a brash robbery before going on the run to Mexico. The humour here is of the low-hanging fruit variety, with misfiring guns, stupid haircuts, and silly disguises. However, Galifianakis makes for an appealing and sympathetic hero, whose desire for adventure and love for Kelly lead to him into pulling off his audacious crime.
Also starring a curiously cast Owen Wilson as the equally dumb criminal ‘mastermind’ who recruits Ghantt and Jason Sudeikis as a gung-ho hitman, this is an entertaining, oddball take on the actual 1997 Loomis Fargo robbery, which remains one of the largest bank heists in US history.
Director: Jared Hess
Writers: Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer and Emily Spivey
Take a look at the trailer:
Queenpins (2021)
Inspired by a true story, this film tells of two women from the suburbs who engineer a multi-million dollar scam involving fake supermarket coupons. Hot on their trail are an uptight investigator for the post office and the overeager loss-control officer who gets wind of the girls’ scheme. Both women have reasons for their fraud, with Kristen Bell’s Connie trying to fill a void left by her failed attempts at motherhood and an unsupportive husband, while Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s JoJo is struggling to get back on her feet after she lost everything to identity theft.
This film moves at a rapid pace as the duo quicky get out of their depth. Along the way, they head off to Mexico to find willing accomplices, dabble in a little gun selling, buy a private plane or two, and get schooled in the world of keeping under the radar by a shady cybersecurity geek. However, while quirky in nature, the film is also an example of how good source material can become overcooked on the screen, in this case, with unlikely plot developments, unnecessary gross-out moments, and an unsatisfactory ending.
Directors: Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly
Writers: Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly
The Polka King (2017)
Okay, we said “five to watch” but we couldn’t help ending with one more from Jack Black. He’s in his element here as self-styled polka legend and entrepreneur Jan Lewan, a Polish immigrant who passionately embraced the American dream, yet came unstuck when reality caught up to him. The film tells of Lewan’s rise to notoriety as a performer and businessman, all of which was funded by a “get rich quick” Ponzi-style scheme, with his rapidly expanding empire enthusiastically supported by his trusting friends and neighbours.
One way to describe this film might be “Bernie Madoff meets polka”, of which – by the way – there is lots. The musical numbers – all performed with aplomb by Black – add even more colour and humour to this entertaining slice of real life. However, like Bernie Tiede, Lewan is no money monster, he’s simply a good-hearted, well-intentioned chap who found himself in over his head.
Director: Maya Forbes
Writers: Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky
We’ll leave you with the trailer: