A comedy where our main character learns that imitation may not be the sincerest form of flattery when he is befriended by a younger neighbor on the town’s newspaper staff.
“The Mimic” introduces us to the world in a very cartoonlike fashion. Its plot is just as convoluted and confusing. Also, in a very cartoonlike fashion. The film’s leads, Thomas Sadoski and Jake Robinson are convincing and fun but they also feel misplaced within the confines of this particular narrative. The movie feels like a collection of mid-season episodes in a sitcom with characters and inside jokes you’re meant to be privy to. The story could have benefitted greatly with a more concise and focused plot. Instead, it is written in a very stream of consciousness style, jumping from idea to idea without ever returning to some of those ideas.
After abruptly meeting our leads in a freak accident and a pointless newspaper meeting, we follow them on a short walk. During this walk, The Narrator (Thomas Sadoski) learns that The Kid (Jake Robinson) is not your typical neighbor nor person. Due to his unusual mannerisms and topics of conversation, The Narrator comes to the wild conclusion that The Kid must be a sociopath. Soon after, The Narrator does some research on sociopaths and decides to test his theory in a more intimate setting.
The Narrator and the Kid meet for dinner and here we enter into a very baffling piece of dialogue. The Narrator begins to ask a series of questions meant to expose a sociopath, based off of a book he read. He checks to see if The Kid has a lingering stare, if he answers in two words, or if he orders the wrong wine, all while the undertone of romance between the two men rears its head every so often. All these random talking points culminate in an irrational attempt to count all the people in the restaurant. Apparently, 1 in 25 people are sociopaths and, including themselves, they count 24 people in the dining room. Their search would “prove” whether The Kid is, in fact, a sociopath.
Suddenly, we find the duo in a car accident after tricking an old man into hitting their car at high speeds. Again, a pointless act that only leads to more questions. While recovering in the hospital, The Kid is visited by his wife which makes The Narrator uncomfortable since he is falling for her. Yes, The Narrator is in love with The Kid’s wife. Something that The Kid doesn’t necessarily seem to mind much. It is a very unsavory character trait making him want another man’s wife, whom he’s never met.
Now, this next scene completely takes you out of the film. It comes and goes without any payoff or even making the least bit of sense. We are pulled into a 4th wall break where a screenwriter and director are working together to write this film. They have a back and forth over the motivations of the characters in what can only be a deliberate mock of the screenwriting process. Then we’re back at it again. Hard cut back to The Narrator now in his home speaking with a “new love interest” (courtesy of our 4th wall breaking director) from his newspaper group. The conversation holds some witty and flirtatious banter but nothing that jumps off the page. Reason being that The Narrator expresses his attraction to The Kid’s wife thus contradicting his new budding romance. Keep in mind we, the audience, have had no interaction or been given any real details of the wife aside from a glance at the of the back of her head, the same as The Narrator.
Finally, we arrive at a cathartic tennis match juxtaposed with an out-of-place hallucination that does little to conclude anything presented prior. Along with a couple of bad shots causing continuity issues and no stakes ever truly being present, we conclude with our leads riding off together on The Kid’s moped. The Kid mentions to The Narrator that his wife (who has been The Narrator’s true intentions) has a twin sister more suited to his personality. The End.
“The Mimic” is a very under developed story and could have been better had it been less sporadic with its ideas. The film suffers from an overload of plots and a lack of execution on them. Many ideas are introduced throughout the film but almost none of them wind up paying off, they’re either abandoned or inconclusive, which makes for a very confusing and tiring film-watching experience.
“The Mimic” had its World Premiere at the 2020 Cinequest Film Festival today, Saturday, March 7th
