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Date Posted: 14:31:59 04/19/04 Mon
Author: wwolfe
Author Host/IP: 161.149.63.100
Subject: My Night (in the Same General Area) With Emma Caulfield.

Last Friday evening at 5:30, the Newport Beach Film festival showed a small independent movie called "Bandwagon," starring Emma Caulfield. It was my short day at work, so after stopping at the Post Office to mail a package, I was on the road at around 4:00. The traffic was horrendous, though, so I wound up missing the first twenty minutes of the movie. Ah, Los Angeles: you giveth and you taketh away.

I also wound up missing - but just barely - Miss Caulfield Herself. When I got to the theater, I pulled into the adjacent parking lot; as I was backing my car into a space, I couldn't help but notice a woman walking directly behind my car, seemingly oblivious to the four-wheeled, gas-powered Machine of Doom bearing down on her. As I stepped on the brake, I thought, "Gee, that seemingly oblivious woman sure looks a lot like Emma Caulfield." A few minutes later, as I entered the theater, I looked at the woman next to me and thought, "OK, she *really* looks a lot like Emma Caulfield." My two initial reactions - after "Holy crap!" - were "She looks taller than she did on 'Buffy'" and "We're wearing the exact same hat." Anyone who's seen my wool Irish hat with the small bill knows exactly what Emma Caulfield was wearing as headgear at approximately 5:45 p.m. PDT, last Friday. Just in case you'd been wondering.

In "Bandwagon," Emma plays a fictionalized version of herself, using "Emma Caulfield's" desire for some career-advancing PR as her motive for trying to launch the acting career of another young woman, who appears to be mentally handicapped. This plot provides the means for making fun of the Hollywood community's do-gooder instinct, a target that's deserved a good swift quick for a long time. I was a little concerned that the movie might try to get some cheap laughs from the one character's apparent mental handicap, but that doesn't happen. On the other hand, the common practice of vain, insecure people using charity as a way to parade their moral superiority for public applause gets a good working over.

Anyone who enjoys the movies made by Christopher Guest and his troupe ("Waiting For Guffman," "Best in Show," "A Mighty Wind") will like "Bandwagon." The movie uses Guest's approach, in that each scene has a basic point it must get across, but beyond that everything is improvised by the actors. This requires smart, quick, empathetic performers to succeed and fortunately the entire cast meets that requirement. In the two main roles, Caulfield and Karri Bowman are especially good, with the latter also writing the story and directing. [Note to "Buffy" fans: In cameo parts were Joss Whedon, David Fury, and Tom Lenk. I arrived too late to see Lenk, but Joss and Fury were both amusing. I especially enjoyed the way Emma always greeted Joss with a gleeful "Hello, Joss Whedon!!" Note to "Angel" fans: in the scene in which the would-be young actress auditions for David Fury, she reads a scene from the first episode featuring Naked Werewolf Girl, from earlier this season.]

Caulfield and Bowman appeared after the movie screened to answer questions, which is where I had the chance to ask how they went about making the movie's individual scenes. (I was also tempted to ask Emma if she'd run off to a small, sun-dappled South Seas island with Buhbuhraven and me, but I resisted.) Best quote from The Fabulous Miss C: "I loved playing Emma Caulfield, Asshole celebrity." I've heard elsewhere that "Bandwagon" wasn't accepted at the Sundance Festival, which probably makes it less likely that it will get distribution beyond some of the other film festivals. If we (and the movie) are lucky, it'll turn up on cable on IFC or The Sundance Channel eventually. I hope so because it deserves a wider audience.

When I left the theater, there was a surf band outside the theater playing "Pipeline" and "Walk - Don't Run." To which I say, thank you, Big Kahuna. A surf band, a starlet, and the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean at twilight: you just don't get much more Southern California than that.

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Replies:

[> Thanks for the review. -- firechilD, 05:37:04 04/23/04 Fri (138.130.219.218)

Hopefully I have the chance to see it myself some day.

But of course, the real question is, did you manage to get yourself a poster?


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[> [> Re: Thanks for the review. -- wwolfe, 00:20:08 04/26/04 Mon (24.55.154.29)

Not yet. I'm not sure how to do that. I might try to contact the film company directly and beg.


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