Mark Baranowski and his beautiful wife Ryli Morgan took a breather from their usual dramatic efforts for this stab at romantic comedy, but unfortunately the Carolina video team just wasn't ready for prime time. Only die-hard fans like me will want to sit through the result.
Basically a vanity production made on a zero budget, film begins with Butch (Baranowski) and his slacker buddy Stu (Tom McCaffery) shooting the breeze, while Donald (Michael Hicks, a regular in Mark's videos) is frustrated in his attempts to write "The Great American Comedy". (Hint: this video ain't it.) Donald gets to enunciate a bitter diatribe against the public that doesn't appreciate his indie videos -Hicks is obviously Mark's surrogate expressing the director's attitude. Donald's wife, played by Minna Hicks, is a forerunner of the plus-size actresses Mark has latterly added to his repertory company, including England Simpson, who has a brief but telling role here as a black dominatrix on a blind date with Butch.
Before the rom-com plot commences in earnest, loyal fans are treated to glimpses of Ryli's moneymakers in a bathtub scene, where co-star Rachelle Williams oddly uses the same bath water (man, is this REALLY low-budget video-making!) after her, displaying full frontal nudity. I guess you won't see that in a Katherine Heigl rom-com.
Butch's and Angie's (Mark & Ryli) romantic travails soon take center stage, with a religious subtext injected, which became a dominant theme in their next video ILL TIMES. Williams is once again the go-to actress for portraying a slut, with her dalliance with Butch interrupted in flagrante delicto by Angie, creating the film's main conflict.
Will Butch & Angie get back together again? Not really a burning question for the fans. So some trick casting helps ease the nearly 100-minute running time, with favorite pin-up Brinke Stevens in a dead-serious role as a fatally ill character, or former '70s starlet Lynn Lowry making a comeback as Butch's mom, who encourages her son to find meaning, through God, in his life.
Occasionally Mark's writing transcends the conventions and corniness of a rom-com, as in a weird and unsuccessful date for Ryli with scruffy Darryl (Daniel Paige) who insists on lecturing her about XXX porn "roughie" classic films of the '70s.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
Finale is wishful thinking stretched to the breaking point: Donald getting rich on sale of a screenplay based upon the events we've just seen; Brinke having a miracle cure; Butch getting religion; and our star couple reunited. The Baranowskis dance around during the end credits' sequence.
To keep the fans mollified, there's a lengthy "making of" featurette on the video where we get to see Ryli's breasts during take after take of her bathtub scene opposite Williams. Without being too blunt, it remains a fact of life that even for an ambitious non-horror/non-violent project like HEAVEN HELP ME, Baranowski realizes that it is the naked beauty of his wife that sells and has created whatever following exists for his work. I keep hoping some other filmmakers will hire Ryli and give her some quality roles -heck, even Tina Russell made many wonderful films (thank God!) without her hubby Jason Russell around.
Basically a vanity production made on a zero budget, film begins with Butch (Baranowski) and his slacker buddy Stu (Tom McCaffery) shooting the breeze, while Donald (Michael Hicks, a regular in Mark's videos) is frustrated in his attempts to write "The Great American Comedy". (Hint: this video ain't it.) Donald gets to enunciate a bitter diatribe against the public that doesn't appreciate his indie videos -Hicks is obviously Mark's surrogate expressing the director's attitude. Donald's wife, played by Minna Hicks, is a forerunner of the plus-size actresses Mark has latterly added to his repertory company, including England Simpson, who has a brief but telling role here as a black dominatrix on a blind date with Butch.
Before the rom-com plot commences in earnest, loyal fans are treated to glimpses of Ryli's moneymakers in a bathtub scene, where co-star Rachelle Williams oddly uses the same bath water (man, is this REALLY low-budget video-making!) after her, displaying full frontal nudity. I guess you won't see that in a Katherine Heigl rom-com.
Butch's and Angie's (Mark & Ryli) romantic travails soon take center stage, with a religious subtext injected, which became a dominant theme in their next video ILL TIMES. Williams is once again the go-to actress for portraying a slut, with her dalliance with Butch interrupted in flagrante delicto by Angie, creating the film's main conflict.
Will Butch & Angie get back together again? Not really a burning question for the fans. So some trick casting helps ease the nearly 100-minute running time, with favorite pin-up Brinke Stevens in a dead-serious role as a fatally ill character, or former '70s starlet Lynn Lowry making a comeback as Butch's mom, who encourages her son to find meaning, through God, in his life.
Occasionally Mark's writing transcends the conventions and corniness of a rom-com, as in a weird and unsuccessful date for Ryli with scruffy Darryl (Daniel Paige) who insists on lecturing her about XXX porn "roughie" classic films of the '70s.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
Finale is wishful thinking stretched to the breaking point: Donald getting rich on sale of a screenplay based upon the events we've just seen; Brinke having a miracle cure; Butch getting religion; and our star couple reunited. The Baranowskis dance around during the end credits' sequence.
To keep the fans mollified, there's a lengthy "making of" featurette on the video where we get to see Ryli's breasts during take after take of her bathtub scene opposite Williams. Without being too blunt, it remains a fact of life that even for an ambitious non-horror/non-violent project like HEAVEN HELP ME, Baranowski realizes that it is the naked beauty of his wife that sells and has created whatever following exists for his work. I keep hoping some other filmmakers will hire Ryli and give her some quality roles -heck, even Tina Russell made many wonderful films (thank God!) without her hubby Jason Russell around.
