The Adventures of Twitch and Scummy
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C- Program: C-
They ride
bigtime in Freestyle Motocross, give people the middle finger (when they are
not mooning them). swear all the time, act tough, tape themselves going to the
restroom and think this is living life to the full. Maybe fool is more like it, but either way,
welcome to The Adventures of Twitch and
Scummy (2003). They were even on the
WARP Tour, obviously doing their best to be warped. Not to be confused with Simpsons characters Itchy
& Scratchy, Jeremy Stenberg is Twitch and Colin Morrison is Scummy, so
these are real life people in a live action world.
Alt. Rock
bands NOFX, Pennywise, and The Kottonmouth Kings are featured with major riders
in the sport, like Beau Manley, Ronnie Faisst, Brian Deegan, Tyler Evans, Doug
Parsons, Seth Enslow, and (likely the biggest name here) Mike Metzger.
At 42
minutes, this is not a narrative exercise, but a spectator sport mood
piece. It includes unrated nudity and
three extreme (and extremely obvious and lame) toilet moments. About 15 minutes into this, it felt like poor
man’s Beastie Boys territory, but this is made by fans and the principals,
strictly for those fans, so only they need apply and buy it.
The
entire program and its extras are shot on analog videotape and it shows, all
full frame. It looks like just about
everyone was running the camcorder at one time or another, something the
credits more or less confirmed, which should give you an idea of the camerawork. The Dolby Digital 2.0 has some Pro Logic
surround information for the music, but it is ambiance otherwise. It should be noted that all of their
audio/video moments have been sped up so they sound like cartoon characters, so
this is not a DVD defect. The few extras
include trailers (a term we will use loosely), a tribute to the late Samuel
Adam Pierce (a fellow biking comrade), Twitch XXX Stunts (involving a stunt
with explosions at 8:04), the “Life Rolls
On” video (5:34), and the audio-only “The
Adventures of This” single.
Between
surfers, X-games types, and skiers, there has been a growing alternate video
market for years, the kind you might see in a Larry Clark film like Kids or Bully. There are a few
foreign films with similar videos-within-the-film, so it is interesting to
finally see one, no matter how predictable.
This includes an attitude towards the kind of women who are looking more
for a challenge than an education, and that is who these guys are looking
for. Some of the moments are trying to
be the ever-lame Jackass show,
though the infamous “Steve-O” is no where to be found. Some of the bike stunts are impressive, and
shows that they have at least one avenue of focus that does work.
Commercially,
the struggle is to be successful, but remain hip. It is one of those make money, but if we are
too successful, we sold out situations.
I guess it just depends on what part of sold out you look at. It will now be with great curiosity I wait to
hear what happens to these guys next, with only the strangest expectations.
- Nicholas Sheffo
