Out of Fantastic Fest, Rocko Zevenbergen’s Flapjax delivers all the goopy goodness you could possibly want (think: Society meets The Fly), but the humor goes absolutely nowhere. In fact, the jokes make for such a bumpy ride that the viewer can only muster a thunderous groan. Zevenbergen, who co-wrote the script with Estevan Muñoz, comments on severing relationships with toxic parents, the service industry’s toll on the body and mind, and learning when it’s time to finally grow up. The serious moments never have time to breathe before a whoopie-cushion gag drains all the air out of the room. The situational humor never revs its engines, and the viewer impatiently waits for a joke, any joke, to land.
Fast food manager Arrow Bentley (Gabriel Cagan) lives inside the walk-in freezer at flailing restaurant Hamudders. He hasn’t seen his mother in years, and he’s even blocked her phone number. As the film opens, he readies the release of his creation, a Humungo Bungo Bowl, that he promises will be a financial success. His co-worker Louie (Madeline Barbush) plans to quit, and new hire Zeke (Estevan Muñoz) challenges Arrow as the chain’s most over-eager employee. When the new menu item proves to be a dud, The Inspector (Daniel Martin Berkey) approaches him about bringing back the flapjack, a once-delicious pancake that resulted in a plague of diarrhea among their customers. But there’s a new recipe that will surely ignite the business model again.
The Inspector has ulterior motives, however. The new flapjack recipe is secretly a diabolical plan from aliens to conquer the human race. Through exploiting Arrow’s good nature, the space creatures have their work cut out for them. All Arrow has to do is make stacks of flapjacks, and their irresistible taste will do the rest. Zevenbergen and Muñoz perfectly set up the dominoes for an instant cult classic, but somewhere along the way, no one mentioned that the jokes have to be funny. Arrow suggests that his mother Eleanor (Georgia Kate Haege), an iconic pop star, headline the first day to draw in her fans. Unlike the Humungo Bungo Bowl, past and new customers flock for a scrumptious butter-infused flapjack. And they can’t get enough.
Flapjax erupts with nauseating practical effects in the back half. Face melting and body mutations will make you lose your cookies, and it’s all so tasty you can’t look away. The already-throwaway script takes a further backseat for Seth Brendle-levels of ickiness that almost makes up for the lumbering death march. Almost.
Rocko Zevenbergen’s Flapjax doesn’t rise when it should, a real bummer given the no-brainer of a premise. The film is tragically a 90-minute joke that doesn’t have a punch line. Seems like the viewer is actually the joke here.
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