SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Steef (played by Theo Von) is best friends with drain/septic cleaning colleague Markie (David Spade) thanks to an unfortunate accident the day Steef dropped out of high school 20 years earlier. Constantly ridiculed, the two slog through life together but, when Markie’s girlfriend Pam (Charlotte McKinney) cheats on him with a waiter, the two guys decide their key to happiness is in that profession. After all, servers get tips, get respect and, clearly, get girls. As a result, they apply to be busboys at an upscale restaurant where staff members have recently been missing shifts. The two get hired to fill those positions and they grow close to their fellow busboys-hoping-to-be-waiters like Romina (Leah McKendrick), Ginger (Vanessa Gonzales), Ginger’s son Oscar (Tiago Martinez) and Murderball (Jimmy Gonzales) but, in the end, they’re all competing for the same promotion. After being passed over, however, Steef and Markie decide to introduce themselves to a regular customer known to be a drug dealer. Desperate to make money, the two agree to sell his product, getting less than 10% of the cut, but quickly get caught where their problems only get worse.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
First things first… this is intentionally a dumb movie. The idea that any critic — us included — would review this seriously completely misses the point.
That said… we have a job to do.
It’s important to note that I’ve been a huge Spade fan since his 1998 HBO special TAKE THE HIT. All four of his stand up specials are highly re-watchable and of course, TOMMY BOY is an all-timer and JOE DIRT is a cult classic. But I actually enjoyed lesser-known titles of his like 1999’s LOST & FOUND and the 2020 Netflix-exclusive THE WRONG MISSY as well.
As far as Von goes, I’ve seen him live multiple times and I never miss his This Past Weekend podcast when I’m a fan of the guest (Nate Bargatze, Vince Vaughn, Leanne Morgan, Dusty Slay, Fortune Feimster, etc.).
I’m a fan of both stand ups, is what I’m saying. So when I heard that they were teaming up to write a comedy, I was instantly in. Whatever it was (even if it wasn’t great filmmaking) promised to be hilarious and full of one-liners. And when I heard they were financing production and promotion themselves, I was even more interested.
Unfortunately, this is a comedy without much comedy. The first true laughs come 21 minutes in and, for a genre that prides itself on providing hilarity early and often, 21 minutes is far too long for audiences to wait. Eventually, the ball gets rolling and there’s a little more consistency but, in the end, BUSBOYS is like a bad Beavis & Butt-Head episode. Yes, there are funny moments but, as a whole, it’s instantly forgettable.
There are loads of ADR issues, the story is choppy and there’s some curious character arcs but, if you read the first paragraph, you know that nobody should be seeing this thing expecting an artistic masterpiece. This movie was made to be funny… and it wasn’t. Like when a sports team assembles a super roster but falls short of a championship, BUSBOYS is a great example of how two hilarious comics can still fall flat despite combining powers.
At least I left the theater knowing I supported their independent effort. (But I’m sure that’s hardly what they were going for when they set out on this adventure.)
JKG SCORE: 4.0
Untitled Film Project 