Weird, wild (and sometimes bloody) fun: Hadi Hajaig's nutty caper comedy, BLUE IGUANA

At the beginning of TrustMovies' viewing experience of BLUE IGUANA, the new humorous heist film from British writer/director Hadi Hajaig, he thought, Oh, god -- this is going to be just too cute, ridiculous and heavy-handed to even finish: a clashing combo of American and British accents and humor so off-the-wall, it's practically out the window. But then -- and faster than he would ever have expected -- the movie began to win him over. Completely. By the end he and his spouse were treasuring every moment. What a pleasure it can be when a film starts so "iffily" and then seduces you utterly.

If you appreciate bizarre and over-the-top performances, nicely completed by quieter, more grounding ones from the two romantic leads, along with a set design and "look" that are sometimes knock-your-socks-off spectacular, this may be the entertainment you crave. And on the big screen, too: art direction like this deserves to be seen in large proportion.

This kind of film is very difficult to pull off, but Mr. Hajaig (shown at left) has certainly managed it.  Here is crazy, gorgeous, blood-spattered hilarity -- with terrific performances from an entire cast.

Blue Iguana is the sort of movie in which, I kid you not, matricide will have never seemed so funny. Nor deserved.

The plot, which, to go too far into would simply confuse the reader, involves a couple of American pals -- Sam Rockwell and Ben Schwartz (above, right and left, respectively) recently released from prison, who are asked (in a kind of combo of plea and blackmail) by a prim and mousy little British girl (Phoebe Fox, below, in what - were this not a small indie film -- would be a breakout performance) to assist her in an illegal money-making project back in England.

They do and, in the process, get involved with an array of bizarre and very funny characters and situations, the likes of which neither they nor we have much seen. Even in crazy caper comedies like this one.

There is plenty of violence and bloodshed, but this is all done with such over-the-top humor and disarray, that you will most likely find your self laughing instead of averting your eyes. Really: you won't want to miss all the fun.

That fun includes a character actor I've often seen but until this

memorable role not really been able to recall: Peter Ferdinando (above), who plays a nutjob named Deacon Bradshaw, whose mother (a grand turn by Amanda Donohoe) proves even nuttier and nastier. Roles like this don't come around all that often for most actors, and Mr. Ferndinando gives it all that it deserves and then a bit more.

Lovely supporting turns come from everyone from Simon Callow to Frances Barber, Peter Polycarpou and Al Weaver, and the movie simply grows crazier and funnier as it moves along.

Ms Fox gets one of those ugly-duckling-to-swan moments that will give you a nice gasp, while Mr. Rockwell, in only his second screen appearance since his "Oscar" win, is reliably terrific. Using his intuitive knack for a combo of humor and gravitas, he keeps the film somehow grounded, while all around him (except the lovely Ms Fox) are going bananas.

Mr. Schwartz (above) turns weird into something kind of wonderful, and the movie's playful nods to so many other movies register as sweet fun instead of seeming merely aren't-we-clever. Mr. Hajaig's understanding of how nearly everyone wants to be, see or know an actor is put to delightful use, too, in a finale that could hardly be cuter or more on the nose.

 If I'm over-praising this little trifle, it's only because I had such a good time. Give Blue Iguana even half a chance, and I think you will, too.

From Screen Media Films and running 100 minutes, the movie opens this Friday, August 24, in New York City at the Village East Cinema and in Los Angeles at Laememle's Monica Film Center. To see all  currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here and scroll down. Simultaneously with the theatrical release, the film will also hit VOD.

WILD CANARIES: Lawrence Michael Levine's new-fangled comedy/mystery throwback

Imagine Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys meeting as adults in modern-day Brooklyn and encountering murders and a lot of lesbiansim, and you might just come up with an idea of what you will get from the new independent movie WILD CANARIES.

Better yet, think of the 1950s television series, Mr. and Mrs. North, with Pam and Jerry played by the modern-day couple Lawrence Michael Levine and Sophia Takal, and you'll have an even stronger sense of this odd little concoction.

The press info for the film calls it a "freshly comic take on classic film noir" -- which is yet another way to approach the movie. As a kid TrustMovies couldn't get enough of the Mr. & Mrs. North series. Watching some of these half-hour programs again recently on video, he can understand why he loved them so back then, while realizing that, no, they're not all that entertaining for the adult mind. Something of the same effect transpires in the course of this new film, written and directed by Mr. Levine (shown at right).

Levine's movie begins promisingly enough, with some fine banter between its in-love protagonists, Barri and Noah (Ms Takal and Levine, above) involving everything from jobs and money to friends, landlords, employers and past loves -- several of whom we soon meet.

These folk include the likes of roommate Jean (Alia Shawkat, above), a young woman who has more than a passing interest in Barri, and Eleanor (the gorgeous Annie Parisse, below) ex-lover and current employer of Noah, who is herself now exploring a lesbian relationship of her own.

Then there are the couple's neighbors who include the aged Sylvia (Marylouise Burke) and her visiting son (Kevin Corrigan, shown in the penultimate photo), and the building's relationship-troubled landlord, Damien (Jason Ritter, below).

There are plenty more familiar names and faces for those of you who frequent American independent cinema, including even the likes of Larry Fessenden (playing poker in a non-speaking role). In fact, as it unfurls and because the plot is not a little far-fetched and the final explanation of which even more so (though Miss Parisse does a bang-up job of explication), the movie seems to almost be a kind of "inside" joke played upon us by the bougie-aspiring Brooklyn filmmaking set.

The excellent, if highly naturalistic performances here -- especially from Corrigan, Ritter, Lindsay Burdge and Eleanore Hendricks -- sometimes interfere with the movie's aspirations to the screwball comedy/mystery genre, while the performances of Takal, Levine, Shawkat and Parisse all handle the plot machinations with a lighter, more graceful touch. While some this can be attributed to the characters these performers play, at times it seems that half the cast is appearing in a different film.

One of those movies that you sometimes feel may have been more fun to make than to view, and despite its straight-ahead intent to charm and entertain above all, Wild Canaries raises some interesting questions that its filmmaker might have included here in an unconscious rather than conscious manner. Why are all five of the most prominent women in the film either involved in or toying with a lesbian relationship, while, among the men, there's not a trace of homosexuality to be seen. Are Brooklyn gals more open to exploring their sexuality to its fullest, while the guys are, as usual, completely closed off dunderheads? Or is this the too-often experienced male view of women as all possibly femme fatales, to which lesbian tendencies simply add? Interesting to consider. It makes one wonder what a female writer/director would have done with this story?

In any case, Wild Canaries -- from IFC/Sundance Selects and running just a little too long at 96 minutes -- is a well-acted and not un-entertaining bauble that I wish had been even more so. It opens this Wednesday, February 25, here in New York City at the IFC Center. On Friday, March 6, it hits Los Angeles (at the Arena Cinema), Seattle (at the NW Film Forum), and Miami (at the Cosford Cinema. Click here to check in as later playdates are posted.

Comedy, crime, romance and "catricide" dot Gillian Greene's droll farce, MURDER OF A CAT

Talk about bizarre movies: After yesterday's winner, The Foxy Merkins, today we cover another oddball film for which there is not much precedent, so far as I can recall. MURDER OF A CAT, the new movie from first-time-full-length filmmaker Gillian Greene, is very nearly uncategorizable. Maybe think of it as a kind of throwback. But to what? The closest match might be the screwball crime capers of the 1940s, with a man in the role usually reserved for a woman: the clueless and not very bright "investigator" who sets the plot in motion. Really: This movie sort of mimics the sensibility of that family from You Can't Take It With You but sets its behavior down in the midst of our 21st Century.

Ms Greene (shown at left) is also known, evidently, as Mrs. Sam Raimi (Sam was one of the producers on the film) but what she has come up with would never be mistaken for a Raimi endeavor. Her movie begins with what looks like a nail-biting escape. By whom? From what? We don't know, but the escapee sure looks scared. Then we get the title card that reads Five Days Earlier and we're whisked back in time to a pleasant surburban street and a yard sale involving a bratty kid, our beleaguered hero and the cat that will soon be headed for kitty heaven. Also on tap: out hero's semi-nattering-but-really-pretty-decent mother; a local law-enforcement officer who's infinitely nicer and more patient than any you'll have seen on film in this century; a heroine who's up to something besides being heroic; and the owner of the town's superstore which has put a number of other local small businesses out of business. Including that belonging to our hero.

So the stage is set for... what? Just about anything you might guess. And the plot's twists and turns certainly encourage this kind of helter-skelter approach in which one odd thing leads to another even odder. The movie really turns on the role of Clinton Moisey and the performance of Fran Kranz (above) in that role. Mr. Kranz has impressed in some of the work of Joss Whedon and his crew, but here he gets the kind of bizarre role that actors either embrace or go running from as fast as they can. Kranz embraces it and then some.

From the near-fright wig he wears initially to his self-righteous attitude, constant bumbling and wrong-headedness, he makes Clinton a hero that only a mother (and maybe a girlfriend) could love. And he is just loony enough to finally win us over. In the role of the girlfriend and cat-sharer, Greta, Nikki Reed (above) makes a pleasantly abrasive other half of the investigative team,

while J. K. Simmons (above), always great fun to watch, plays the local Sheriff in such a pleasant and patient manner than he almost makes you forgot his Snidely role in the current Whiplash. Blythe Danner as the sweet, thoughtful mom; Greg Kinnear, offering up all kinds of charac-terizations as the owner of that megastore; and the wonderful Leonardo Nam as the store's most bizarre employee round out the main cast.

As a filmmaker, Ms Greene wisely concentrates on low-key humor rather than mystery or suspense (as both of the latter are either ridiculous or missing in action), and thereby succeeds in making her movie work pretty well. Overlong by maybe ten minutes, Murder of a Cat never pushes too hard and so ends up being a lot more charming than you might expect.

The movie -- from Gravitas Ventures and running 101 minutes -- opens today, Friday, December 5, in New York City at the Village East Cinema. Simultaneously, it will also be available via VOD platforms, Amazon, Apple and iTunes.