MBunge
Starting as an aimless and nudity-free sex comedy, then transforming into a 4th wall-breaking satire of off-Broadway theater and finally plopping down into an abortive love story, the only consistent thing about Farm Girl in New York is that it's almost never funny. I will give it credit for a couple of decent jokes and there's a few more times you'll laugh at it for being so pathetic, but this thing is more like a terrible summer camp skit that just never ends. It has a relentless energy that keeps coming at you and Allison Munn appears to be a perfectly fine young actress. What it lacks, however, is either wit and restraint or genuine crudity and fearlessness. These filmmakers apparently thought they were too smart for cheap vulgarity but they aren't nearly smart enough to pull off even middle brow humor and when they try and dabble in drama…well, that's the most hilarious thing about the whole production.Sam (Jeffrey Schecter) is an aspiring writer who finds out his fiancée is a cheating slut and gets fired from his job on the same day. That also happens to be the same time his unbelievably contrived best friend Matt (Joshua Wade, who looks like a ginger version of Jason Lee) discovers he needs to flee to avoid a sex crimes prosecution. The two move to New York City where, after a series of unfunny bits of shtick, they stumble onto the idea of staging a fake play in order to get desperate young actresses to show them their boobs. Well, in the course of that, Sam meets Mary (Allison Munn) and thinks she's so dreamy that he decides to try and put on a real play. With the assistance of Alan (J. Robert Spencer), a character who couldn't be more artificial and phony if he were made out of living styrofoam, they get to work on the play, Sam and Mary fall in love, she finds out about the deception and yadda, yadda, yadda. If you need me to explain the rest of the plot, you're exactly dumb enough to enjoy Farm Girl in New York.These filmmakers try very, very, very hard to be entertaining and I guess that counts for something. They throw everything except the kitchen sink at the audience to try and provoke a smile or a chuckle. Unfortunately, they must have left any structure, style and consistent tone in the kitchen sink 'cause there ain't none of that here. What is here is comedy that's not much better than what you'd find in your average 8th grade classroom. Farm Girl in New York is the sort of mish mash or parody, lunacy, sight gags and weirdness you get from people who don't understand the reasons when, why and how those things are funny. Out of the three screenwriters involved, at least one of them should have been able to ask "Why are people going to laugh at this?" On the other hand, they would have had to ask that question so many times with this script, they probably would have dislocated their jaw.And what the hell is Max Weinberg doing in this thing? Is he related to one of the producers? To go from Conan O'Brien to Farm Girl in New York is like falling out of the international space station and skewering yourself on the antenna at the top of the Empire State Building. Weinberg had to have gotten someone's first born for showing up here.And don't be fooled by the DVD cover that tries to make this out to be some kind of sensitive, indy rom-com. It has all the sensitivity of an armadillo's hide and most of the little critters are far more amusing. Unless you are, like apparently Max Weinberg, related to one of the folks who made this, don't watch it. And if you are a relation, only view it if you need something to hold over their head at the next family get together. When they start to complain for the umpteenth time about when you stole an old girlfriend/boyfriend away from them, throw this fiasco back in their face. That'll shut 'em up real quick.
