Mayberry Man

The producers and actors meant well, but this is an excruciatingly dull movie from start to finish. It didn't hold my interest at all. I didn't care what happened to the characters. I didn't try to imagine how the movie was going to end. There's nothing exciting about the storyline. Several of the characters are especially annoying; when they show up I just want them to move on and come back stronger in a future scene. It's billed as a comedy but I saw nothing worthy of even a little chuckle. Did the filmmakers use a lot of 'untrained' actors? It's like they pulled people off the street? I'm confused...

The premise is great. The execution, not so much.

I don't understand all the 10 star ratings and if you are looking for an honest review, you should start reading somewhere around the 5 star mark. I've watched the Andy Griffith Show reruns all my life. It is a wholesome family show and has a few life lessons thrown in as well. This was disappointing.

Some of the folks portraying the Mayberry characters weren't too bad but the rest of the acting was cheesy, subpar or just bad. The story wasn't very interesting as it lacked a solid plotline and there was no real reason to invest in any of the characters. It made it seem long and drawn out and the main character was annoying to watch.

Another disappointment was there was no one to impersonate Andy, Aunt Bee or Opie. However, the character impersonations we did see were The Mount Pilot Girls, Briscoe and Charlene Darling (hillbilly dad and his flirtatious daughter), Gomer and Goober Pyle (gas station attendant and his cousin), Floyd Lawson (the barber), Earnest T. Bass (town nut and troublemaker), Otis Campbell (town drunk) and Barney Fife. As I said, some of these were decent impersonations and this is why I'm giving it the 3.5 star rating.

Had they spent more time on the script, character development and plotline, this could have been a cute movie. I think Return to Mayberry, a made for television movie that brought some of the original characters to solve the mystery of a reported lake monster and see Opie become a first time father, was a far better film.

Heartwarming fun movie with a little bit of something for everyone.

....Above average for a crowd funded effort..

The least you could have done is have it in the town Andy based it on, the same town the actual Mayberry fest is held. Mt, Airy, NC is a living tribute to the show. It's highly unfair you traded up the actual town for the Hendricks County Courthouse rather than have it in Mt. Airy itself located in actual North Carolina. Pilot Mountain, Raleigh all the real places from which the show was based. I know the DesiLu sets aren't intact but yet there will always be Mt. Airy, Andy's actual hometown. Real fans know the difference! Cheap imagery and change ups lead people to only follow the story because it refers to Mayberry. After 30 minutes in it appears to more of a cheap money grab imitation.

OK. Here is the correct review of this film, omitting the extremes on both sides (hopefully), and from a typical Mayberry lover.

Yes, the storyline is cheesy while the script and much of the acting is pretty lame. That's nearly expected when the producers likely wanted to make a cheap film using non-actors. So let's give that criticism a break. What should we expect? After all, who among us wouldn't want to be in a movie about Mayberry? As for the pros, the Brett and Ashley "prof acting" characters still made for a decent and likable downhome couple. That said about the acting, I still enjoyed the film.

I will give Mayberry Man a thumbs up of 7 for the following two reasons: Barney and Floyd. These guys were perfect. How people could not see that, I don't know. Just like the show itself, when Barney and Floyd were on camera, regardless of who else was on screen with them, they stole the spotlight. Now, I am a pretty tough critic, but as the movie progresses, I found these two amiable "tribute actors' got so good they made a not so good script and imperfect film worth watching. When these two were in the squad car alone, improvising as they went, they WERE Barney and Floyd for me. And, when that happens and you can suspend belief a bit, these two amazing recreations made this trip to Mayberry all worthwhile.

Hang with It all to the end and see what I mean.