Gentleman Broncos

A blast in another galaxy falters when it returns on Earth

Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess has made a return, of sorts, to the world of teenage misfits—this time without the numchucks. Aspiring sci-fi fantasy writer Benjamin (Michael Angarano) joins fellow home-schoolers on a field trip to a young writers convention where he meets his hero, acclaimed author Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement of “Flight of the Conchords”). Though slightly disillusioned by the narcissistic Chevalier, Benjamin enters his Yeast Lords manuscript into the convention’s competition never suspecting that Chevalier would release the novel, with a few modifications, as his own.

At the same time, Benjamin’s dysfunctional filmmaker friends shoot a low, low budget version of his story. That film along with fantasy sequences of Benjamin’s and Chevalier’s versions give us three renditions of an already bizarre tale with Sam Rockwell playing the testicle-losing, stag-fighting hero Bronco in the dream versions. Unfortunately, the comedy vanishes with the dream sequences. Running gags like the dreadful dress-making business run by Benjamin’s mother never gel. Only Rockwell’s two, over-the-top character depictions and Clement’s dry, comic touch, give Gentlemen Broncos enough booster power to put a little smile on Pedro’s face.