Film Review: Blue Iguana Goes For The Classic, Comedy Heist
Blue Iguana is a light-hearted comedy, in part, because it knows it is ridiculous. Packed with characters that are the definition of quirky, it is a comedy that throws you aback. While you will laugh at a few gags and punchlines, you truly laugh at madness of this film.
Writer, director, and producer Hadi Hajaig knows that he has created something that is, sort of, a comedy within a comedy. He has openly admitted that this film is a “tribute film” to classic comedies such as, Something Wild; ones filled with deadpan humor, crime-caper drama, unlikely circumstances, and enough charm and wit within its cast to make you believe in it all. While Blue Iguana certainly has this all; in being a testament to comedies that were, it will divide audiences, in terms of like, because how we laugh has changed.
Nowadays, humor is more honest, raunchier, socially savvier, and rawer. While people may complain of the “PC police”, consistently trying to tame laughs, their rise is not new or unsurprising. When the laughs get bigger, harder, and realer, there is always a group of people that feel they must “check” them. In some ways, Blue Iguana appeals to the more “innocent” comedies; where you laughed at the ditziness and eccentricities of a group of people trying to figure their way through something that would never happen in real life. Just look at the synopsis:
Small time New York crooks Eddie and Paul are in over their heads when a cute London lawyer hires them to fly to London and steal a rare jewel. Meanwhile, a mullet-haired gangster wants the gem for himself. Bullets and sparks fly in this pond-hopping comedic caper.
The mere description of this film feels like it could belong, at earliest, in the 90’s. In the world of Seth Rogen and Dave Chappelle, Hadi Hajaig’s humor feels more “innocent”, despite being based on crime, having some violent scenes, and a funnily, deluded romanticism. The film is caught between classic laughs and heist films, but if you did not find the classics funny or “homage films” intriguing, the movie will not appeal to you. Yet, there will be people who welcome the time-warp and the avid conviction of Blue Iguana’s cast.
Sam Rockwell as Eddie, Phoebe Fox as Katherine, and Ben Schwartz as Pau capture the essence of their characters’ weirdness, insecurities, and eagerness to be loved, which is why films like Something Wild succeeded. We loved the idea of buffoons getting smart and quick through romance, and learning to put idiocy aside to fall in love. Thus, as the film progresses it gives into cuter flirtations and the silliness of giving “googly eyes” to someone while performing a stake-out. All this you can see in Blue Iguana Which Is In Theater And On Demand.
