Plot
The movie opens with a black man molesting a white man who has trouble remembering events for more than 15 minutes at a time. The film then cuts forward in time to Pulp Fiction (film), two talkative hitmen, Sam (Neil Barton) and Harvey (Eric Hoffman), who mistakenly believe Johnny Vince (Darren Keefe), a hipper-than-thou Swingers (1996 film), swingin' hipster (1940s subculture), hepcat and band trombone player, to be the third member of their gang, assembled by their evil crime boss to pull a "botched robbery" in Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas. Along the way, they take a beautiful demented hostage – the lovely, desperate and The Good Girl, lonely cashier Julianne (Paget Brewster). They are unaware that she will forever change their pathetic lives. During the journey, the foursome encounter a variety of characters inspired by famous independent films, including a Pi (film), bald genius, a Memento (film), forgetful thug, a Run Lola Run, jogging red-head, a Secretary (2002 film), bound and gagged girl, Pi (film), rabbis on a mission, Mulholland Drive (film), many lesbians, Project Greenlight's Pete Jones, a Pulp Fiction (film), crazed though well-dressed mechanic (Clint Howard), a Clerks (1994 film), horny answering machine (Jason Mewes), a naive El Mariachi, mariachi, an obnoxious practical-joking love-struck Amelie, French girl, and finally Pauly Shore as himself.Reception
''My Big Fat Independent Movie'' was a box-office bomb, earning only $4,655 in box office receipts during its world-wide run with an estimated budget of around $3,000,000. The film was poorly received by the consensus of critics who reviewed the film, receiving a low 23% rotten rating over at Rotten Tomatoes. Internet debate soon erupted over the film's lowbrow treatment of independent film classics and caused backlash from die-hard independent film fans. Chris Parry, entertainment journalist and film critic for efilmcritic.com, found that the movie targeted films that were too well liked by its intended audience, and a larger (more mainstream) audience wouldn't recognize the referenced films. Controversy over the film ensued after the producer's former publication "Filmthreat" (who co-produced the film) gave the movie a perfect 5 star review. In light of the controversy and public backlash, the company distanced itself from the movie. Before its limited domestic release, the film had been pre-screened on the festival circuit including Cinequest, South by Southwest, San Diego Film Festival, Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Worldfest Houston, and the Temecula Valley Film Festival.References
External links
* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, My_Big_Fat_Independent_Movie, My Big Fat Independent Movie 2005 films 2000s parody films American independent films American parody films 2005 directorial debut films 2005 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films