With Sean Whelan also filling in for one of the characters he wishes to portray in the film, Crust sits in the realm of dark comedy that truly does not any things to offer. It is both vague and confusing yet somehow retains a coherent plot and themes to capture the audience. The best part, according to me, is the array of unique characters, such as that of a very loving and affectionate monster. The objective of watching Crust is irrespective of being able to enjoy the film or wanting it to be entertaining. Even watching it and wanting to watch it while hating it would suffice as an objective. But in either case, it is definitely entertaining and surely captivating.
Walheln’s main role was that of a certain ‘Vegas’ who depicted an ex-child sitcom star and is now said to run a laundromat in Los Angeles while also suffering from depression. Vegas along with his childhood friend Russ (Daniel Roebuck) co-runs a self-service laundromat, where he works during the daytime. They both faced some bizarre and annoying clients, but that was acceptable because he also was able to operate some “self-service” out of the premises. But it seems that Vegas, along with the laundrette, also lives in other parts of the city, to which he has easy access to new cream socks buried under a mound on the ground. After a fan news compilation spun a sitcom about the Baker’s Dozen of the 90’s that was long off air, which also based in fact prevents use it during the press conference along with in-Charms on the won show, Natalie pretended to be the central character angry and ready to be in the story again but this time sang entirely different tunes. Two cast members of the show were reported to have survived the brutal massacre of the cast and the show in general which also led to the deaths of numerous family members.
One of the more famous actors from the Baker’s Dozen, Randy (Alan Ruck) is still active in Hollywood and has several modeling offers. Everything considered, it can still be said that outside forces are also playing a crucial role, for, in his life today, an ex-lover Laura (Felissa Rose) still holds place, but in my opinion, she is a waste since she refuses to tolerate his extra emotional baggage. Indeed, life in Vegas is chaotic
Not long afterward, four children descend upon the laundromat and start throwing things at him. One child begins to video Vegas while he rubs one out and makes it public to the masses. The excitement is crazy, and all of a sudden, Vegas is the focus of the tabloids. Reporters lay siege to the launderette and the relatively tranquil life of Vegas (yes, he was heavily constipated but there was some consolation) is blown apart. It’s at this instant that Vegas gets an email from Randy with a proposal to shoot in the new series Baker’s Dozen, another woman enters his life as well (Nila, Rebekah Kennedy) and the sock mountain in the back room begins.
Vegas learns about the sock monster, and thankfully for him, he is not in search of one since the sock is in fact real and it troubles him. So, he decides to call it a Crust sock monster. At the same time, Vegas and Nila grow ever closer resulting in Laura going mad in a funny nursing home (After her new partner, Crust, Laura blames Laura for going ballistic), and Agent Bynes, a specialist on unexplained phenomena, wishes to make himself important (Vista is a new monster of the sock with love for sex!) and perhaps for the better, Vaga’s life changes course. And at this directional shift, Vegas is now Crust’s best friend. In fact, Crust and Vegas become the most intimate friends that Vegas has ever had, surpassing Nila and Russ. But maybe it’s good to have such friendships. Is it the best idea for a human person to become mates with a sock that delights in eating them?
Also, you have no reason to follow other conventional film comedies since Crust completely inexplicably shocks you all the time. Even when you try to figure out what’s the next thing in the work of the film, the comedy does not only go along the path you are visualizing but also goes above and beyond.
There certainly is no other rom-com that features a pile of socks as its main character, and crust remains weird as it is always there. The most boring but relevant thing about Crust has to be the fact that the conclusion is the most interesting. What do the viewers make of these events? There what happens is up for debate. Sure, the climax may not sit well with some. Sure, some people may find it a turn-off at first. I love it.
One more strong aspect of Crust is the fact that when they want to make it into a ‘horror movie’ there is no moment it feels out of context. A sock monster appears and Crust really isn’t a horror movie anymore. Yet this sock monster is so freaking absurd it still manages to fit into what is around it. Until that point, most of the movie is comedy and with a decent amount of Hollywood parody (the two hosts of the Hollywood TV show are genius in that). At best C.R.U.S.T can be summarized as “How do you fit a sock monster into all of this?” However, Crust does manage to do that and does it quite well. Being that the fact that Crust is mostly a black-and-white film is a good tool (only one scene in the whole film does not fall in the classification of black and white). The attempt to watch the movie in color is close to impossible so no one will try. And what place can be more appropriate for a pack of socks out to mingle than a world in shades of grey? The very opening of the screen sets the stage for this ‘Quixotism’ category of movie.
Are labels really such an important aspect of everything? I really do not know why everything is never neatly tucked in a box that bears a sticker indicating what’s inside, but interestingly, this is one of the aspects this film takes a dig at. One simply has to wonder, who on earth ever goes through the trouble of performing such an irrational task as labeling? It is a joke.
It is easy to get with the speed of Crust, although the movie never falls into a slow mode. Yes, the movie is interspersed with aspects of the development of the characters so the audience may warm to the characters, even in the case that the audience does not particularly like them. The oscillating tone of sorrow which accompanies Vegas on his journey to discover himself is also present, but I imagine, not too much. It is only a slight alteration and hence is simply taken in with a sigh.
Then arrives the performances. There isn’t a single off performance in Crust which Sean Whalen is also in. As a matter of fact, Sean Whalen is the backbone and the soul of the picture portraying Vegas. The look on his face does indicate that fame did not come too easily to him. He is split between two worlds where he is not sure where he wants to take his life. However, what Vegas does know is that owning a laundromat and attempting to keep a low profile is almost what he enjoys doing. But slowly, starting with Crust & Nila, everything begins to alter for him. Whether for the best or for the worst, it is going to be entertaining alright. Whalen accomplishes what Vegas needs him to execute precisely. He indeed is a comical character. He is free from emotions, and he seems quite perplexed by all that is occurring around him. What wonderful material; what a fantastic performance! The fact that he also directed the picture makes you appreciate Whalen’s performance all that much more. Such a magnificent overwhelming performance
Nila is done justice to character-wise by Rebekah Kennedy. She quite literally depicts a character that seems to have trooped out of nowhere intending to mesh with the lost Vegas. She then eventually becomes something more. Initially, one tends to think that Nila is borderline borderline a stalker of a star. Stalking is hardly the word, but there has to be some sort of motive in her vocation aimed towards Vegas which mostly revolves around “oh she was a star” and it is in Los Angeles. Nila decides to transfer to Las Vegas to entertain more for the ‘nobody’ that she was and it’s about ‘its’ Encino Man’s world show business is built on the premises of bullshit after all. Nila goes out in this Vegas role whom she is vaguely familiar with (there is a flashback explaining this, it’s all good), but there is a connection between these characters that you just know is the real deal. Somehow, somewhere Nila and Vegas match each other seamlessly. The audience sees for themselves that Nila loves being a stunt double with Whalen and there is an all-in-all correspondence that exists between the two that makes beauty in motion and picture. She also has the upper hand that she is very impressive on screen, so when she appears on Kennedy nobody can stand still.
Daniel Roebuck plays the character of Russ in a funny and loud manner. The character loves to drink alcohol so much that it can be a bit overbearing as he always has an alcoholic beverage during meetings or even when there are celebrations. The air of Russ can be explained in a single sentence, “I want to have sex with that babe over there.” This may seem inappropriate in real life and quite annoying, however, to the quilted Russ, it is a part of the show. Koebuck is through and through a little lady and it is rare today to see such madness among people, especially women, and insult someone in the same breath as thanking them, but for Koebuck it is a very easy task. In the movie, there was absolutely no scene where he was not in complete control. If by some stroke of luck, there will be “Crust 2“, then you would be naive to think that he will not cast himself in the role of Russ. So does Koebuck begin to get associated with Russ, and Vander with Chun Li, it is clear now that the two had been meant to play their character in the show.
Felissa Rose is charming once again as Laura, Vegas’s ex-lover who has issues that led to this separation. Rose always puts in an incredible effort. If you are unpleased with her, then there might be a time when you will get to feel compassion for her, be it in small quantities. But if she found it hard to cope with the problems that should be left with Vegas, then the case should end there. Rather than that, Laura believes that she was able to outsmart Vegas by proving how effective in life she is. This is most probably the worst thing that can be said about Laura but then again I do not blame Rose for depicting her such. What I enjoy is her trimming about from comedy to drama. This is why she is with no doubt a contemporary genre icon.
For the audience, Alan Ruck is finally able to create his character as Randy as well. Most of the time, Ruck has a minimal part in the film because they very accurately say in the movie a scene or two at the most, and yet Ruck has so much of a particular scene being daft and hilarious.
To be quite honest, I would indeed love to share a laugh with you regarding Randy’s Actions and yes, it does come off as a tad bit dysfunctional. But the aspects I found entertaining were Ruck’s fake hairpieces, his character was a true American character that gave off the feel of a Hollywood elite, meaning that he left a lot to be desired which was unsettling. He indeed was an Ass. In conjunction with that Crust sock monster, quite frankly, has dominated the social scene single-handedly. If I am not mistaken it was Crust who received the most merchandise sales and what can I say it’s only fitting as everyone was wearing socks in the commercial.
With that being said, I do wonder whether Crust will be attending any future conventions alongside Shirley, after all, I had never seen anything like that, a monster made from crusty socks. cringeworthy to say the least, but on the bright side it was enjoyable and engaging, in my opinion, horror fanatics will be able to capture pretty amazing selfies with Crust. After all, l sounds quite entertaining.
Crust is an interesting mix of horror and comedy due to it being a bloody butcher type of movie. The film has a very distinguishable quality of being dark yet funny at the same time. If you were to look up the best films released in 2024, you would easily find Crust there, and for good reason. Star Whalen makes a great directorial debut here and as such is a movie worth watching. Crust is definitely a movie worth your order.
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