How late is too late? Not really an important question to answer but I was wondering. Anyway, we’re covering a movie today that we lovingly call…
Too Late!
Movie Details:
- Release Date: 2021
- “Run”time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Where to watch it: Streaming
- Directed by: D.W. Thomas
- Written by: Tom Becker
- Starring:
- Alyssa Limperis
- Ron Lynch
- Will Weldon
Synopsis: A comedy store booking agent deals with her monster of a boss
Open Stab Wounds (out of 10): 5
Review: After watching my fair share of documentaries about stand-up comics and their dark childhoods and struggles on the coffee shop circuit, I feel like I was prepared for this film. I didn’t know anything about “Too Late” before I saw it on the list of the next film for us to watch. All I knew was that a dude was on the cover that looked very Paul F. Tompkins and that it was about a monster.
Adding a bit of extra details for you: Bob Devoe (Ron Lynch) is the owner of a prestigious indie comic venue. His assistant and venue booker, Violet (Alyssa Limperis), work together to get fresh talent and fresh meat… Bob isn’t just a comic proprietor, he’s a monster and a human dieter! Bob promises to take Violet from nothing to something, so long as she continues finding people for him to eat. Meanwhile, Violet finds someone to fall in love with, another standup comic, Jimmy (Will Weldon). This forms the central conflict of the film: Jimmy and Violet love each other but Bob needs food.
Since it’s based in the standup comedy world, Too Late kind of leans into horror comedy territory. However, the film does something unique in that it leans into horror… and it also leans into comedy. They never feel particularly well integrated with each other. This sense of disparate comedy and horror elements is probably best captured by the collection of standup comedians throughout the film. Their portions feel like random bits tossed in rather than important plot points. To be fair, the comics delivery is pretty good and there were some solid jokes… but it felt tacked on.
On the horror side of the house, there was very minimal gore and not a whole lot of scares. I wonder if this has to do with normalizing Bob’s presence as a monster early in the film. It might also be that it felt more like a Goosebumps or Tales from the Darkside level monster. Granted, horror doesn’t have to be scary to be good; but I think it could have helped here.
There is a theme in the film about show business, especially in the comedy circuits, about getting eaten up and disappearing by the biz. Although it’s something we’ve seen before, I don’t hold that against the movie. I would’ve liked it explored in a more nuanced way, because there’s talent here behind the movie; I don’t want show business to eat them too.
Last thing I’ll note from my intro. I mentioned the standup comedian documentaries. If one of the writers sees this review, I have an idea for you! You should make a Bob prequel set as a documentary about his monstrous rise and fall. It seems like you have some of his backstory fleshed out already. It could be a cool bit of commentary: Bob Devoe: A Horror-Comedian.
Thanks for reading and watching along with us! Be sure to keep up with all 31 days of our Halloween Horror Film coverage!
Oh, and make sure to follow Brandon on Twitter @BarnyardCruz and Kevin @Solucid!