Go West

IN A NUTSHELL: The story is about a crazy group of pioneers who braved the harsh elements and numerous mishaps to travel thousands of miles out west to find a place to call home.

The film was directed by Stephen Meek and Jeremy Warner. Writing credits go to Adam Berg, Whitney Call, and Mallory Everton.

The cast came from a group of college students at Brigham Young University who performed in a comedy troupe called Studio C. Since graduating, they're known as JK! Studios. I'm so happy for them and their success. Congratulations on making a feature film together! Their true-blue fans will definitely get a kick out of this campy flick.

THINGS I LIKED: The comedic cast includes Natalie Madsen, Whitney Call, Stephen Meek, Matthew Meese, Jason Gray, Mallory Everton, Jeremy Warner, James Perry, Stacey Harkey, Adam Berg, Ruth Clarke, Matt Moen, and many more. Almost all of them played more than one character, showcasing their versatile talents.

The title has previously been used in a Buster Keaton movie in 1925, then in another movie in 1940 with the Marx Brothers. The 1979 song by The Village People, which was later covered by the Petshop Boys in 1992, is featured in this movie.

I adore Sean Astin and loved him in The Lord of the Rings. (Best movie trilogy ever!) His character in that movie says, "Potatoes...boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in your shoe." Loved it. We hear that same line used by one of the characters in this movie as a sweet nod to Sean Astin as the narrator. Nice touch.

There's a random musical number that's actually pretty funny.

The film was written by JK! Studios themselves, but there are also gems in the film when cast members improv'd many lines, enhancing the script. For example, the "I want to watch a man go over a waterfall..." moment in the campfire scene was delivered by Mallory Everton spontaneously.

Jeremy Warner acted in the film, co-directed the film, co-wrote the film, did most of the editing, and much of the special effects, as well as all of the musical score used in the film.

They filmed in Utah, mostly outdoors, from October 15 to Nov 11, 2022, to get the movie in the can before winter. The weather quickly turned frigid and began to snow halfway through their shoot. Luckily, it was in sequence, so most of the snow worked for them and they ended up with some perfectly snowy backgrounds on set as a result. While the snow was beautiful to look at, it made for very cold filming sessions throughout the production.

Stacey Harkey actually played in a couple of video ads for a dating app my son invented called Mutual.

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: Not all of the humor lands, but sometimes, the writers knock it out of the park.

I adore Mallory Everton, so I was disappointed that she didn't get to play more characters and show off her wide range.

TIPS FOR PARENTS: No profanity.

There is a LOT of potty humor and jokes in poor taste Lots of blood, snot, and talk of other bodily fluids.

I wanted to like this movie more than I ended up doing. I enjoyed many of the skits from the original "Studio C" cast, so perhaps I was expecting a bit more. There were things to like and laugh at, others not so much. The packed theater I saw the movie with seemed to get laughs mostly from the younger folks (tweens and teens), not so much from the adults.

Pros: Natalie Madsen and Stephen Meek are good in the lead roles/straight men amid all of the quirky characters. Sean Astin is funny and is good as the narrator. Jason Gray is still the funniest actor in this bunch. No bad language or lewd anything, apart from a veiled reference to a man being attacked in the crotch by a buffalo, resulting in his voice going up a few octaves.

Cons: I was a bit taken back by the puns and jokes about dysentery, polio, skin diseases, etc. Perhaps it's because I have eczema myself, or perhaps it's because I have ancestors who really suffered through these issues while making their way out west, and such ailments were not a joke to them. *Shrug* The cast tries a bit too hard to be Monty Python-esque, with the 10 of them playing multiple characters; it gets a bit confusing at times as to who is who. Sometimes quirky gets mistaken for funny, which is sometimes a downside to both older and new "Studio C" episodes. A few fart jokes.

Overall: good popcorn flick for a Tuesday $6 movie at the Megaplex. If you're a "Studio C" fan, you'll enjoy it. If you're not, I reckon you won't. 6/10.

As is the case with any feature film based upon and written by a sketch-comedy property, Go West is a mixed bag of material.

Some of the scenes really fell flat with repetitive "jokes" that were devoid of any sort of structure that could be construed as comedy.

But the infectious personalities of the cast and the blend of dry delivery and absurd style of humor really worked for me more often than it didn't. The film's finale also had plenty of cleverly-inserted payoffs to jokes that were set up earlier in the film.

These types of movies usually have a few bright spots amidst a total mess, but for me this had some really messy spots amidst a mostly admirable effort from a small studio.

I'm a big fan of the original cast of Studio C for their light-hearted humor in sketch comedy. This movie is a longer version of a sketch comedy with many jokes- some hits, some misses- that decently highlight the humor style of each of the cast members. You can see hints/characteristics of old Studio C characters throughout the movie. If you are already a fan of the cast and are familiar with their style of humor, I think you will enjoy a decent portion of this film. But if not, maybe try some of their old Studio C videos to see if you like this type of humor first.

My favorite characters in this movie are played by Jason and Whitney as usual.

When I first saw the ads and trailer for this movie (showing in Tucson) I wondered if I should go. But I decided it would be nice to see a NON-MARVEL film, since Marvels are all simply terrible now, and also to support a new film from independent film makers.

I am glad I went! This is a film that looks and IS far better than it's modest budget would indicate! The writing is excellent, incisive and hilarious. You will have to watch closely so you don't miss some of the humor, as it moves very briskly along. There are no slow spots in this film. The photography, the music, and the details of the scenes and wardrobes are all top class. It's kind of like "Monty Python and the Holy Grail Go Cowboy" As one woman who was watching it near me commented at the end: "Well, that was just totally cute, wasn't it?" I had to agree about that! This is a film without a message or agenda, just a fluffy movie of pioneer humor, that works from the beginning to the end. They also take the "mystical advice from beyond the grave" that is taken so seriously in everything from Star Wars to Spiderman, and give it a far more funny twist that is probably more accurate, too, if such phantom advice even exists.

It was an enjoyable afternoon!