Directed by: Lillo & Greg Written by: Edoardo Falcone / Claudio Gregori / Lillo Petrolo Genre: Comedy Connect:
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D N A - Definitely Not Appropriate
Ezechiele ( Claudio Gregori ) is your typical, cliche nerd who aside from being incredibly smart, lacks any form of social graces - and is a prime target for any bully worth their salt. In the case of this film, that bully is Nando AKA Bulldog ( Pasquale Petrolo ) and he's quite unforgiving. This is Ezechiele's youth, get bullied, accept it, rinse, and repeat - and it doesn't stop there. Although when all grown up Ezechiele manages to obtain a decent enough job, the nature of his character remains the same - and he still gets bullied by his peers - and even his family.
Bulldog's life has also gone as expected, a life of petty crime. Nando lacks the smarts to be a king-pin, so taking orders and bullying less capable people is all there is for him - but he wants more. He yearns for at least some social graces, maybe a little intelligence. A chance encounter with his childhood acquaintance provides a perfect opportunity. Nando, AKA Bulldog, is going to take lessons on how to be polite from Ezechiele - and there's nothing Ezechiele can do about it. It all sounds pretty cut and dried, until Ezechiele decides to use Bulldog, and himself, in a genetic experiment. He will swap their DNA and see if he can inherit some of Bulldog's more aggressive tendencies - and vice-versa. Nando wants to be more socially polite - Ezechiele wants a little more aggression. The experiment works, although a little too well - and both these characters begin to start life anew, with new qualities. But there's a catch, the effects are not permanent. Add to this crafty comedy the side story of Ezechiele's wife and a big bad corporation determined to get hold of his secrets, in order to genetically poison a population and addict them to a fast food franchise, and you end up with D N A - Definitely Not Appropriate. I have purposefully only skimmed the story in order to keep this review spoiler free, but one thing this film has plenty of... and that's laughs. This film definitely occupied a soft spot in my heart, as I love ridiculous comedies... especially when they have a splash of science fiction. If I had but one complaint, it would be a slower transformation of the characters when they swapped chromosomes. The personality changes in the film are pretty quick, and I feel that a more drawn out, gradual transformation could have allowed for a lot more humor. But as it sits, this title flew by pretty fast, and I laughed quite a few times. Even the casting of this title felt spot on the money, and for a film that didn't have a hundred million dollars, it felt big, bold, and polished - with some pretty decent performances. I loved the lead-up relating to another side story of the film, a serial killer, and loved how it all turned out in the end. Most people will enjoy this title, so long as they don't think about it all that much and simply enjoy what Lillo & Greg are feeding them. Pun intended. This may not be a completely new idea for a story, but it's executed well and is definitely entertaining. Four out of five stars. My favorite part? Jessikah ( Anna Foglietta ) and her wall of client pictures. Haha. |
