So far as comedic scenes goes, THACO has some chuckles here and there. But there's not a whole lot else going on here. The movie namedrops a myriad of roleplaying games, and then blasts them for a quick laugh (which falls flat). The optimistic Bill must wrangle the impulsive Duck and the obsessive Jon while they wait for the neurotic Aaron to show up. We watch as they go to the local comics and gaming shop for their various reasons, discuss their backstories as gamers, argue over their hangups in regards to Tom Hanks and Peter Jackson, and try to play Dungeons and Dragons free from interruption in an age of cell phones.
The movie has some real inconsistencies when it comes to audio levels, characters will be whispering and barely audible only to be seconds away from shouting their shrill voices. Characters seem to be almost completely ADR throughout the movie, thus things like background sounds don't really exist and it sounds somewhat unnatural. As far as acting goes the four characters can be adequate and believable when not shouting, and there's even a cameo appearance of Neil Gaiman! The humor is often exaggerated and more referential than original, and listening to the scenes of them around the table is like a game of trivia, where you try to guess what the next line is referencing.
What we don't get much out of this is an actual movie about the hobby or the players, instead we get anecdotes and urban legends told as if the characters themselves have experienced it at one time or another in their lives. Perhaps the most annoying portion of the movie is when the characters decide to go on a 5 minute riff on magic/cursed items, and it becomes unnecessarily raunchy.
It's an alright movie, but you can get much better out of the genre from The Gamers. Too much time spent on making references, and not enough on actually showing what an actual gaming session is like.
The movie has some real inconsistencies when it comes to audio levels, characters will be whispering and barely audible only to be seconds away from shouting their shrill voices. Characters seem to be almost completely ADR throughout the movie, thus things like background sounds don't really exist and it sounds somewhat unnatural. As far as acting goes the four characters can be adequate and believable when not shouting, and there's even a cameo appearance of Neil Gaiman! The humor is often exaggerated and more referential than original, and listening to the scenes of them around the table is like a game of trivia, where you try to guess what the next line is referencing.
What we don't get much out of this is an actual movie about the hobby or the players, instead we get anecdotes and urban legends told as if the characters themselves have experienced it at one time or another in their lives. Perhaps the most annoying portion of the movie is when the characters decide to go on a 5 minute riff on magic/cursed items, and it becomes unnecessarily raunchy.
It's an alright movie, but you can get much better out of the genre from The Gamers. Too much time spent on making references, and not enough on actually showing what an actual gaming session is like.