Butler's Cinema Scene

Rutger Hauer goes postal in "Hobo with a Shotgun"

“HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN” (Available July 5)

Is it a good bad movie? A bad good movie?

“Hobo with a Shotgun” muddies the distinctions.

It’s based on a fan-created faux trailer that won Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse Trailer Contest, which means that from the outset this tale of a hobo (Rutger Hauer) who single-handedly cleans up a corrupt, crime-riddled city is packed with over-the-top violence and bad (deliberately so, one hopes) acting.

After all, the Grindhouse concept embraces the lurid tackiness of ‘70s exploitation movies. A classy grindhouse movie would cancel itself out, creating a black hole that would swallow our planet.

Shot in bilious colors and propelled by performances of shameless scenery-gnawing intensity, this movie is best suited for bachelor parties and other drunken events where director Jason Eisner’s utter lack of subtlety can be more easily overlooked.

Hauer plays the titular tramp with a nice blend of innate nobility and low-keyed humor; from there the performances slide downhill.

Truth be told, I found myself wishing that Tarantino had tackled this one himself. As he has so often shown, Tarantino can elevate even the most sleazy genre piece into something that approximates art. Nobody else comes close. Certainly not Eisner.

This DVD offers a slew of special features…more, actually, than a lump of cheese like this deserves.

| Robert W. Butler