Unicorn City

It finally happened! There have been many times that I've gone to an early showing of a movie and had only a handful of other viewers in the theater with me, but I finally experienced what it is like to be the ONLY person in a movie theater. I really shouldn't have been surprised since I took a gamble on a movie that was a local independent film.

I decided to see Unicorn City despite it not having any critic reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. It's a low budget, locally filmed movie directed by Bryan Lefler who was involved in Napolean Dynomite. He got John Gries (Uncle Rico) to play the villain in the movie.

This is a silly movie about gamers and D&D nerds. In an effort to get a job, the main character attempts to recruit his role playing friends and create a Utopian City up in the mountains called Unicorn City. His nemesis crashes the party and tries recruiting everyone over to his side. While this is taken place, one of the girls in his guild who has a crush on him tries to let him know how she feels about him but he does not reciprocate her feelings.

Unicorn City features many quirky characters much like Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos, but I didn't like this movie as much as any of the previously mentioned films. I think Unicorn City will entertain most people who appreciate this genre and who get a kick out of making fun of gamers who can't differentiate between reality and fantasy. There were 4 scenes I really laughed at:

1. When a character finds broken PVC pipes in a hole that are shaped like a sword. He dramatically pulls it out of a muddy sprinkler hole as if he found Excalibur.
2. The gag costume for the Rhubarb the centaur character was really funny.
3. The fantasy dream sequence the main character has was hilarious and may have been worth the price of admission alone.
4. The little brother played by Kevin Weisman who beats up his brothers was also pretty funny. I thought he stole the show.

Aside from these four things, I didn't really find it to be that funny. It is clever,  silly, and quirky, but not as funny as I had hoped. I was, however, impressed how much the main character looked like my nephew. I give Unicorn City 6.3 stars. From my experience in the theater, I'm guessing everyone must be waiting for it to come out on video before they see it.