Frankie Go Boom [Blu-Ray]

A slightly naughty screwball comedy, Frankie Go Boom is built a bit like a less pretentious, more intimate Seven Psychopaths. Frankie (Charlie Hunnam) is a wannabe revenge novelist forced to face his muse when his sleazy, exploitative filmmaker brother, Bruce (Chris O'Dowd), is released from rehab. As children, Bruce honed his craft by filming his brother falling for cruelly staged pranks. As adults, Bruce got his first viral hit as a director by releasing footage of Frankie's disastrous wedding. Their intended reconciliation goes way off course when Bruce stealth films a sequel to that embarrassing YouTube sensation, following Frankie during a chance meeting that turns into an emasculating sexcapade with the emotionally vulnerable Lassie (Lizzy Caplan, Party Down). It turns out that Lassie is the daughter of Bruce's drugged-out, washed-up actor turned film producer buddy, Jack (Chris Noth), so the story becomes a game of hide the sex tape lest you be beaten-up by a famous, half-naked coke head. Writer/director Jordan Roberts relies a bit too much on forced quirks (Jack has a pet pig that has no bearing on the plot) and spends too much time developing wacky tangents (some Christians with deep pockets show up wanting to hire Bruce to make angel movies and Ron Perlman makes an appearance as a transvestite computer hacker) to really explore the primary characters as multidimensional beings. But as a silly, desperate sex comedy that casually deals with taboo intimacy issues, using addiction as an excuse to be a selfish asshole and privacy rights in the age of the omnipresent digital eye, Frankie Goes Boom is frequently amusing. On the acting front, Chris O'Dowd nails his part as another charming jackass, while Noth and Perlman are obviously having a lot of shameless fun with their flamboyant roles; Hunnam and Caplan are also likeable enough, in their limited ways. In the "Behind the Scenes" feature, the Sons of Anarchy star talks about being intimidated taking on a role in a comedy (I guess he forgot about being in Undeclared) and being nervous about asking his manly co-star to gender-bend. He needn't have been: Perlman was thrilled to try something new. The rest of the features are a slight cut above standard. "Pig in the Pool" walks us through the film's big stunt, showing Caplan going gooey in the presence of an adorable oinker, and for the deleted and alternate scenes, Jordan gives the viewer a little something extra, personally explaining the reason behind each change and cut. The second-time feature director has a modest talent for goofy scenarios and dirty wordplay, so if you're looking for innocuous rainy day viewing, Frankie Go Boom might fit the bill.