“Midgets vs. Mascots” described as “Borat” meets “Jackass”
By Michael Knox, mknox@modernfilmzine.com
“Midgets vs Mascots,” a shockumentary shot in a style similar to “Borat” pits five little people against five mascots to battle for $1 million apiece in outrageous competitions. The film finished third in voting in the Heineken Audience Award at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, according to a news release.
As described on the Tribeca Film Festival website, the film’s “”ilarity and raunch… struck a chord with TFF audiences” and “is certain to shock and amuse.”
The Heineken Audience Award is determined by audience ballot votes throughout the Festival, which included 85 features and 47 short films from 36 countries.
Directed by Ron Carlson and starring Gary Coleman (“Different Strokes”) as himself, the film has generated considerable buzz., according to a news release. Over the last month, clips from the movie have logged more than 325,000 online views and tickets to its initial four screenings at Tribeca sold out in two hours, prompting the Festival to add a fifth showing for Sunday, May 3.
A cross between Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” and Johnny Knoxville’s “Jackass,” the movie “Midgets vs Mascots” is geared toward 18-34-year-old males.
In a test screening last November, the film’s scores came back 20 percent higher than the average studio comedy. In head to head testing, “Midgets vs Mascots” also beat seven of 10 relevant comedies, including “Jackass,” “Reno 911,” “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Bad Santa,” “Pineapple Express,” “Clerks,” and “Harold & Kumar.”
Like “Borat,” much of the film is shot “guerilla improv” style, as the two teams of little people and mascots surprise unsuspecting bystanders as they crash restaurants, bars, and neighborhoods.
In the contest, a team of little people (the Midgets in the title, with Coleman playing his disgruntled self) square off against a team of Mascots, performers who wear costumes—for example, an alligator, a cowboy sheriff, a taco, etc.. They compete in a series of bizarre events, all with the goal of winning the money.
According to the “Midgets Vs. Mascots” Web site the director, Carlson held a Q & A session after the film.
Carlson started off by saying that everyone had a great time on the shoot, and that they went into public locations without warning any of the people who were already there. That made for some excellent real-world reactions to the antics, he said.
“There was no way we could have scripted those moments,” he said. “These guys rocked! I put them through a lot of stuff, and they mostly did everything they were asked.”
