| Ass Backwards | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Chris Nelson |
| Written by | June Diane Raphael Casey Wilson |
| Produced by | Heather Rae Molly Conners |
| Starring | June Diane Raphael Casey Wilson Jon Cryer Vincent D'Onofrio Brian Geraghty Bob Odenkirk Paul Scheer Alicia Silverstone |
| Cinematography | Andre Lascaris |
| Edited by | Josh Salzberg |
| Music by | Orr Rebhun Erica Weiss |
Production companies | Prominent Pictures Worldview Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Gravitas Ventures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Ass Backwards is a 2013 Americanfemale buddyblack comedy film written by and starringJune Diane Raphael andCasey Wilson.[1] It was directed by Chris Nelson and produced byHeather Rae. The film premiered at theSundance Film Festival on January 21, 2013.
Loveable losers Kate and Chloe (June Diane Raphael andCasey Wilson) are best friends with a not-so-firm grip on reality. The girls have been inseparable ever since tying for dead last at a kiddie beauty pageant as children. Now they are all grown up and living inNew York City, where Chloe is a "rising star" dancing in a glass box at a nightclub, and Kate is the "CEO" of her own one-woman egg-donor "corporation."
Their past humiliations at the pageant remain long forgotten until they receive an invitation to the pageant's milestone anniversary celebration. With unpleasant memories flooding back, Kate and Chloe decide to redeem themselves, take a road trip back to their hometown, and win the elusive crown.
On the road, they face some hard truths about themselves and each other as they encounter drug addicts, spring breakers, strip club hooligans, a feminist farming collective, and their favorite reality TV star, leading to the girls' homecoming and final reckoning with their past, present, and future.
Ass Backwards was shot in various locations inUpstate New York, includingAlbany,Saratoga Springs, andTarrytown, during the summer of 2010. Production was then initially halted due to an investor default. In 2011, Raphael and Wilson launched a successfulKickstarter campaign to raise money for the film. Executive producer Dori Sperko also helped finance the remaining days of shooting in New York City during the summer of 2012 to complete the film.[2]
Ass Backwards premiered at the 2013Sundance Film Festival inPark City, Utah on January 21, 2013. The film made itsLos Angeles premiere atOutfest on July 13, 2013.
Following its premiere at Sundance,Ass Backwards was acquired byGravitas Ventures.[3] The film was made available on iTunes and VOD on September 30, 2013, leading up to the film's theatrical release on November 8, 2013. It was released on DVD on January 28, 2014.
Ass Backwards received mostly unfavorable reactions from critics.The A.V. Club,Hollywood.com, FirstShowing.net,RogerEbert.com, andCraveOnline gave favorable reviews, but the film was panned byVariety and theLos Angeles Times. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received anaverage score of 37, based on ten reviews.[4] Film review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reports that 27% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 22 reviews, with an average score of 4.27/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: "June Diane Raphael and Casey Wilson are sharp comedic performers, but their co-written script gives them little to work with in this meandering farce."[5]
Robert Abele of theLos Angeles Times stated: "The scenarios in 'Ass Backwards', which director Chris Nelson contributed to by filming in focus, feel arbitrary rather than organic, as if the creators' list of humor targets—lesbian bikers, trailer trash, drug-addicted reality TV stars, pageant world denizens—were picked out of a hat."[6]
One of the harsher reviews came from Dennis Harvey ofVariety who called the film "a comedy built on the amusement value of stupid people that is itself too stupid to be funny."[7]
On the other hand, Chris Packham ofThe Village Voice wrote: "The episodic story and minimal budget result in a small canvas over which these two huge characters dominate."[8]
A more positive reaction to the film came fromRogerEbert.com critic Christy Lemire: "It's infectious, and the daffy, breezy way the stars play off each other makesAss Backwards way more enjoyable than it ought to be."
The A.V. Club gave the film a B rating: "Ass Backwards overcomes the obvious beats with clever, occasionally dark jokes that reveal the sharpness of its stars' writing."
Ethan Anderton of FirstShowing.net said: "It's a road trip worthy ofNational Lampoon orPlanes, Trains and Automobiles with twoJohn Candy's. IfAss Backwards is the breakout hit that it deserves to be, then there has to be more in store for Chloe and Kate, two characters that feel like they have been in Wilson and Raphael's backpocket just waiting to be unleashed."
Hollywood.com had one of the more favorable reviews: "Wilson and Raphael have unique comedic voices, as crass as any male counterpart with strong female identity. They go big and physical withAss Backwards, dressing their alter egos in over the top costumes (or 'high fashion', as it's known in New York) and letting loose in a way that recalls the early days ofJim Carrey. It helps that Wilson and Raphael both come from sketch comedy. They're well-versed in hyper-specific characters—and ones we want to spend more time with, just to see what trouble they weasel their ways into."
