Two Days

-- Video Business, 5/1/2004

Color, NR (mature themes, strong language), 91 min., DVD $24.99, VHS rental

DVD: no extras

Street: May 25, Prebook: April 26

First Run: Video premiere

Cast: Paul Rudd (Gen--Y Cops), Donal Logue (TV's Grounded for Life), Mackenzie Astin (How to Deal), Adam Scott (Torque), Karl Wiedergott

Director: Sean McGinly

HART SHARP

Story Line: Paul (Rudd), an unemployed actor, decides to commit suicide and enlists the help of two filmmaker friends (Scott, Wiedergott) to document his final days. The ensuing hours are filled with a number of surprises, including the sudden introduction of an audition for a plum role and the arrival of Paul's parents to participate in an "intervention" instigated by one of the filmmakers.

Bottom Line: An opening title proudly proclaims that Two Days is "partly based on a true story." Presumably director McGinly or one of his film school friends considered offing himself and filming his suicide note, thus providing the inspiration for this in-joke comedy about existence on the lower rungs of the show-biz ladder. The only real film-industry name dropped is that of Spike Lee (who is producing a hit sitcom starring our forlorn hero's ex-girlfriend), indicating the sorry level of satire and the film's early '90s mindset--the influence of Soderbergh and Linklater can be felt throughout. The unfortunate part is that Two Days is merely mediocre when it's a comedy, but actually gets worse when it turns into a full-fledged drama. Regardless, it will appeal to those intrigued by high-concept meta-video experiments a la the razor-sharp comedy Man Bites Dog and the recent Video X. --Ed Grant