"Eagle vs. Shark" a quirky portrait of young romance
A light sprinkling of quirkiness can be charming; a heavy-handed dollop of it can, alas, put you off your popcorn. Such is the fate of New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi's comedy "Eagle vs. Shark," yet another tale of two oddball loners who find each other.
Though there are funny moments throughout, its characters speak in droning monotones that soon grow tiresome, and after a while you're desperate for somebody, anybody, to raise the energy level. Waititi's obviously a talent, but here he seems to be trying too hard to not try too hard; he's undermining the cleverness of the writing with the thudding hulk of its delivery.
At its center is Lily (Loren Horsley, whose wide-eyed screen presence brings to mind Toni Collette), a lank-haired cashier at a Meaty Boy fast-food restaurant. Horsley plays her with a mournful timidity that's often touching. Asked to provide a screen name for a video-game duel, the mousy Lily meekly offers "Dangerous Person?"
She's in love with Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), the video-game clerk who often comes into the Meaty Boy for lunch, and plies him with free cheese and yearning looks. Hearing of a party he's giving, filled with promises of entertainment ("My friend has a helmet and he's going to let us chuck shoes at his head"), she crashes it, dressed as her favorite animal: the shark. (Jarrod is wearing an eagle costume, hence the title.)
Soon, the relationship (which starts with sex, and goes backward from there), is under way. "How many girlfriends have you had?" wonders Lily. "About five. [pause] No, actually eight. I forgot some," says Jarrod. He is, she learns, distracted by a revenge mission against a childhood bully, and she drifts along to his hometown with him, in the hopes that he'll notice that she's his dream come true.
There's definitely a creative force behind "Eagle vs. Shark" — Waititi occasionally interrupts the live story with scenes of stop-motion animation, which charmingly portray Lily's romantic imagination. But the characters, though often funny, never emerge as people who intrigue us. You wish them well, but you're happy to see the end of them.
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com
Movie review
Showtimes and trailer
"Eagle vs. Shark," with Loren Horsley, Jemaine Clement, Craig Hall, Rachel House, Brian Sergent, Joel Tobeck. Written and directed by Taika Waititi.
87 minutes. Rated R for language, some sexuality and brief animated violence.