He Was a Quiet Man (2007)

Christian Slater's dedicated performance aside, He Was A Quiet Man tries to be both a black comedy and a drama, each ultimately undermining the other.

Although the budget is low and the plot uneven, it’s got a certain cultish charm that should appeal to disaffected office workers.

Combining the mordant observations of The Office with the twisted romance of Boxing Helena, this macabre farce is an acquired taste, whose fantastical flourishes and toilet humour merely heighten the unsettling perversity of the whole.

Slater does well to soften the lines of his no-hoper caricature, but writer-director Cappello steers his film to nowhere particularly memorable.

An enjoyable satire is let down by a third act that juggles too many ideas for its own good.

Above average (just) comedy drama.

Imagine Marty if Marty had turned out to be the Unabomber and you’ll have the gist of writer-director Frank Cappello’s oddly compelling, pitch-black comedy.

With its dreamlike flourishes and unrelenting despair, Frank A. Cappello's pitch-black dramedy feels distinctive even if it recalls bits from Falling Down, Office Space and even Boxing Helena.