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Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde
Inecom // PG-13 // July 17, 2007
List Price: $19.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
In the digital age, any idiot can make a movie. Dr. Ravi Godse would like you to know that he's an idiot ("Just ask my wife!") and thus the perfect man for the job.
Godse, by day a respectable Pittsburgh physician, felt the itch to become a filmmaker, and so, with the help of friends and family, he made "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde," in which Godse (who wrote, directed, produced, and co-edited) plays himself as he struggles to make his first movie. This meta premise is more inspired than the finished product, but at least the good doctor gets points for cleverness.
The story follows Godse as he hits a midlife crisis - he wrote a novel, but that didn't do much, and now he wants to journey into film (or video, as it were). With so many wealthy co-workers, procuring financing should be a snap, while a crash course at the local film school would teach him everything he needs to know. He's wrong on both accounts, as colleagues take to avoiding him in the hallways and the class becomes an exercise in condescension and pretension.
Meanwhile, trouble brews at home when his wife (Olga Segall) suspects he's having an affair. It's an inescapable mix-up: another film student wants to make her boyfriend jealous and invites Ravi to be a faux Other Man; he refuses, but thanks to a series of awkward plot contrivances, word gets out anyway and "Dr. Mrs. Ravi" gets mad. The whole mess is an unnecessary subplot that pulls us out of the film's more laid back, quirky observational state.
Indeed, the movie works best when it's in easy-going mode. The film school scenes are the movie's best moments, dryly mocking the self-importance of the teacher and her established rules for storytelling (she insists Godse's novel wouldn't make a good movie because it fails to follow the traditional three-act set-up with pre-set coordinates for all its major conflicts - the very reason such a movie would probably turn out to be a breath of fresh air) while simultaneously poking fun at Godse's own over-enthusiasm.
Godse also peppers his film with low-key jokes that work because of their eccentricities. We never feel the movie trying to be hip and quirky, which is exactly why its quirkiness succeeds - it's not forced or phony. And a comment late in the film regarding the casting of a white kid as the son of decidedly not-white parents reveals an ingenuity at work, honestly bucking convention without overselling the gag.
But for every one joke that works, there are five that fail. Godse's screenplay is too eager to land big punchlines and zany scenarios when none are required. One line of dialogue goes way out of its way just to set up, of all things, an Amway joke. (Amway jokes weren't even funny when they were timely.) A later scene has Godse arrested as a suspected terrorist when he's seen videotaping a local bridge; the general idea is funny, but every single move along the way falls flat, like it's trying too hard to nudge the audience along. When Ravi takes a vacation to Africa, it feels more like a set-up to introduce a single goofy character than for anything workable story-wise (or even comedy-wise).
And because Godse has hired a cast and crew of amateurs, most of the performances are so uneven that even when a joke is decently written, the delivery is so stilted and clumsy that the punchline bombs. A cloying musical score and an editing pace that allows the movie to drag then compound the film's problems, and soon we're left with a movie that stumbles along a little too much.
"Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" (the title ultimately makes no sense, really) has just enough charm and smarts going for it that you want to approve, but it's also so clunky and off the mark that such approval never quite arrives. It's an A for effort, but only C- for final product.
Side note: The MPAA has granted "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" a PG-13 rating. The film contains no profanity (it even comically beeps out such words in one sequence), no violence, no sex, no "adult" themes of any kind. The rating is explained as being "for some rude humor," but aside from a single visual gag involving a toilet, I can't recall anything here that would constitute "rude humor." And yet this independent work gets a PG-13 anyway, further proof that the MPAA's rating system is completely broken.
The DVD
Video & Audio
The anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) transfer looks surprisingly sharp. The movie was shot on digital video (by a crew who obviously knew how to make things look good on a budget), and I'm guessing the transfer comes directly from a digital source. It's not high class and definitely has that too-clean "video look," but it's still better than your average sub-indie fare.
The soundtrack gets the Dolby 2.0 treatment, and it's passable, considering any issues are with the source material itself. (Several scenes reveal poorly placed microphones, lots of wind, and muddled dialogue.) Optional English subtitles are included.
Extras
Just a few trailers for the film, plus some previews of other Inecom releases.
Final Thoughts
"Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" is the sort of homemade movie you want to like much more than you actually do. Godse reveals a sharp wit, but he then dilutes it with too many stale gags and clunky plot points. Fans of low-budget fare should Rent It for catch the smarter moments sprinkled throughout the dimmer ones.
Godse, by day a respectable Pittsburgh physician, felt the itch to become a filmmaker, and so, with the help of friends and family, he made "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde," in which Godse (who wrote, directed, produced, and co-edited) plays himself as he struggles to make his first movie. This meta premise is more inspired than the finished product, but at least the good doctor gets points for cleverness.
The story follows Godse as he hits a midlife crisis - he wrote a novel, but that didn't do much, and now he wants to journey into film (or video, as it were). With so many wealthy co-workers, procuring financing should be a snap, while a crash course at the local film school would teach him everything he needs to know. He's wrong on both accounts, as colleagues take to avoiding him in the hallways and the class becomes an exercise in condescension and pretension.
Meanwhile, trouble brews at home when his wife (Olga Segall) suspects he's having an affair. It's an inescapable mix-up: another film student wants to make her boyfriend jealous and invites Ravi to be a faux Other Man; he refuses, but thanks to a series of awkward plot contrivances, word gets out anyway and "Dr. Mrs. Ravi" gets mad. The whole mess is an unnecessary subplot that pulls us out of the film's more laid back, quirky observational state.
Indeed, the movie works best when it's in easy-going mode. The film school scenes are the movie's best moments, dryly mocking the self-importance of the teacher and her established rules for storytelling (she insists Godse's novel wouldn't make a good movie because it fails to follow the traditional three-act set-up with pre-set coordinates for all its major conflicts - the very reason such a movie would probably turn out to be a breath of fresh air) while simultaneously poking fun at Godse's own over-enthusiasm.
Godse also peppers his film with low-key jokes that work because of their eccentricities. We never feel the movie trying to be hip and quirky, which is exactly why its quirkiness succeeds - it's not forced or phony. And a comment late in the film regarding the casting of a white kid as the son of decidedly not-white parents reveals an ingenuity at work, honestly bucking convention without overselling the gag.
But for every one joke that works, there are five that fail. Godse's screenplay is too eager to land big punchlines and zany scenarios when none are required. One line of dialogue goes way out of its way just to set up, of all things, an Amway joke. (Amway jokes weren't even funny when they were timely.) A later scene has Godse arrested as a suspected terrorist when he's seen videotaping a local bridge; the general idea is funny, but every single move along the way falls flat, like it's trying too hard to nudge the audience along. When Ravi takes a vacation to Africa, it feels more like a set-up to introduce a single goofy character than for anything workable story-wise (or even comedy-wise).
And because Godse has hired a cast and crew of amateurs, most of the performances are so uneven that even when a joke is decently written, the delivery is so stilted and clumsy that the punchline bombs. A cloying musical score and an editing pace that allows the movie to drag then compound the film's problems, and soon we're left with a movie that stumbles along a little too much.
"Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" (the title ultimately makes no sense, really) has just enough charm and smarts going for it that you want to approve, but it's also so clunky and off the mark that such approval never quite arrives. It's an A for effort, but only C- for final product.
Side note: The MPAA has granted "Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" a PG-13 rating. The film contains no profanity (it even comically beeps out such words in one sequence), no violence, no sex, no "adult" themes of any kind. The rating is explained as being "for some rude humor," but aside from a single visual gag involving a toilet, I can't recall anything here that would constitute "rude humor." And yet this independent work gets a PG-13 anyway, further proof that the MPAA's rating system is completely broken.
The DVD
Video & Audio
The anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) transfer looks surprisingly sharp. The movie was shot on digital video (by a crew who obviously knew how to make things look good on a budget), and I'm guessing the transfer comes directly from a digital source. It's not high class and definitely has that too-clean "video look," but it's still better than your average sub-indie fare.
The soundtrack gets the Dolby 2.0 treatment, and it's passable, considering any issues are with the source material itself. (Several scenes reveal poorly placed microphones, lots of wind, and muddled dialogue.) Optional English subtitles are included.
Extras
Just a few trailers for the film, plus some previews of other Inecom releases.
Final Thoughts
"Dr. Ravi & Mr. Hyde" is the sort of homemade movie you want to like much more than you actually do. Godse reveals a sharp wit, but he then dilutes it with too many stale gags and clunky plot points. Fans of low-budget fare should Rent It for catch the smarter moments sprinkled throughout the dimmer ones.
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