Night of the Coconut

Unexpectedly delightful and full of personality, Patrick (H) Willem's Night of the Coconut is a whimsical ride if you're familiar with his YouTube channel's storyline or not. Personally, I was not- I skipped most of the 'Charl' segments, a decision I now regret.

In 'Coconut', each actor pulls their weight, regardless of talent. I attribute this most likely to Willem's direction, as weak actors convince and great actors shine bright. The cultural, social, and political references are on point, and each cameo is more than fluff, moving the story forward while bringing a smile to your face.

It also has the warm heart of a Christmas film, with none of the wrappings. I couldn't turn it off, enraptured by its professionally, and staying for how comforting, cheerful and wholesome it was. I certainly never expected to be making an IMDb account just to write a review for this- or that I'd be wanting to rewatch it down the line. While real threat rarely ever feels posed to any of the characters despite the high stakes, the light tongue-in-cheek nature of the quality filmmaking well makes up for it.

Willems is self-aware aware of the limitations of his own project, and brilliantly spins them into a fun adventure that contrasts the story on paper in a satisfying way. This review does not do the film justice.

Highly recommended, 9/10.

Better than I expected! The acting's probably the worst part, but it's not terrible. It has a great score, generally funny script, and gives a satisfying conclusion to the channel's story.

I hope he makes another feature length film relatively soon!

... but I just can't call it good.

It has the feel of a series of skits with a common theme than a real story. Almost as if a bunch of the preceeding segments in Willems's videos had been gobbled together to form a movie.

There are good moments here and there, and I do like the main characters. Despite this, it feels like exactly what it is: a YouTuber trying to fulfill their dream of becoming a filmmaker. The history of that has not been good and while this is better than most (which isn't saying much), it isn't anything relevatory or game-changing. (Although, bonus points for Willems's parents, obviously.)

While I don't necessarily expect a comedy to be laugh out loud funny, the jokes in this one just mostly fall completely flat. Not being that funny isn't necessarily a problem, if the jokes (or just a mood) support a great story, but since that isn't the case here, the jokes mostly just work against any kind of immersion.

The film is just bad. It is hard to say more than that, particularly as I liked his reviews. Technically the film is bad in every sense, the lighting, cinematography, sound, blocking, everything is either bland or badly done.

The acting is also incredibly bad and cheesy. The crossovers are so badly acted as to be painful. It is cringe at its worse. The writing and directing are straight up bad to the point where it is baffling, particularly given Willems' charm and skill as an essayist.

The old nostalgia critic films are probably technically worse and relied to much on parody, but this just feels lacking in ever regard. It feels like it just lacks any heart.

He seems like a nice guy so I'm glad this exists and he got to make his passion project. Its clear his strength is as critic and not a creative.

Bad acting, bad exposition, middling jokes and somehow generic feeling plot despite the googly-eyed coconut. Tons of name dropping of people I haven't heard of and references I don't know about. I don't know what the point of this film was or who it was for, but probably not for the general audience, though you aren't really told that when jumping in.

The characters don't feel real either. Matt reacted like a cartoon character upon hearing about his brother's death. I guess this whole thing is meant to be more like an inside joke rather than a proper move? Sorry about the long rant, it's just due to the minimum character limit.