Good morning, House of Madness weirdos:
Family is important. When times are tough, trying, depressing, and downright bleak, those of us lucky enough to have family to turn to truly understand the importance a family member's insight and trust can be when things look grim. When times are good, having someone close to share your happiness and help accentuate the feelings of euphoria cannot be described into words. Having a sibling you can kick the shit out of on a daily basis can really help your self esteem, while they grow up to write a book about bullying and make a trillion dollars. No matter how bad or good things get, family is the one constant in a world full of questionable rectitudes, and its power and influence cannot be ignored. Yep, family is a true blessing indeed.......unless they turn out to be maniacal sociopaths of course; hahahahaha, I hate when that happens.
Jeff Blake (Bret Lada) is a food blogging YouTube sensation, and everything seems to be going his way. Well, everything other than the recent loss of his father in a fatal car accident after falling asleep at the wheel. Wanting to learn more about his ancestral roots and family history, Jeff reveals to the camera that a few weeks prior he 'spit in a cup' and sent it off for analysis to an ancestry website. The results are in, and they're quite shocking: instead of finding out he was the long lost nephew of Hugh Heffner, Jeff learns he has a half brother named Andy Baker (Dustin Fontaine), and the two have been unknowingly living in relatively close proximity in New Jersey. Jeff heads to Andy's modest little house, and the two new brothers hit it off for the most part and share a day of hiking, food, and of course blogging it all on video. At the end of the day, Jeff reveals he has a huge deal in the works with The Food Network, and has two weeks to provide some premium content, after which he is to meet with the network bigwigs in Baltimore. What a coincidence, Andy also has business in Baltimore that same weekend, and offers to carpool in order to spend some more quality time together. Jeff initially declines the offer for the reason that he works alone, and his pitch to TFN was for one food guru, not two and he doesn't want to jeopardize his new project by bringing along a potentially unwanted co-host. Upon reflection, Jeff changes his mind, and the new dynamic bro duo set out for Baltimore the next morning; Andy can film while Jeff drives, and Jeff will drop Andy off at his destination on the way. Things are perfect.
Perfectly fucked up that is. Not only can't Andy seem to hold the camera in the proper positions while taking simple instructions, his on air personality is that of a deer in the headlights, only more awkward and less sympathetic to the onlookers. Jeff loses his cool, and Andy asks to just be dropped off at his job site, after telling Jeff he should be treated as an equal which warrants more respect. Andy's behaviour is starting to set off my inner 'psycho-meter', but Jeff seems simply annoyed with Andy's antics. After arriving at the job site, it turns out Andy has been fucked over again, and the job he was counting on has fallen through. Andy asks to be dropped at the nearest gas station, and he'll figure out his own way home. As they're driving through a wooded area, Andy asks Jeff to pull over, and then darts off into the woods in what seems to be a game of hide and seek for lunatics. Jeff searches for Andy, and as the time passes, the eerie sounds of nature start creeping into his thoughts and.........HERE'S ANDY! Now my 'psycho-meter' is on full blast, projecting images of Jim Carrey in "The Cable Guy" hooking up with Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction". Not Jeff though, he's as cool as a clueless cucumber, and the two brothers not only reconcile, but agree to work together for the entirety of the project as not only could Jeff use Andy's help, but why not get to know this weird, unpredictable loose canon even more?
As the two drive, eat, and blog their way to Baltimore, there's never really a feeling of camaraderie, and we're just waiting for things to go sideways, which they of course do with less than ideal results. What kind of man was their father, really? What brought the two together after a lifetime of not knowing of each other's existence? How far is one willing to go for repentance, and to wipe the slate clean? How many days in a row is Andy going to wear those overalls? All but one of these questions are somewhat answered in a kinda thrilling conclusion, but when all is said and done, does anybody really care?
"The Andy Baker Tape" succeeded in building an uneasy atmosphere, but could have benefited from a little more character development; with a runtime of only 70 minutes, there was certainly room for a little more insight into the lives of Jeff, and especially Andy. Even though it uses a tried and tested formula, the film does offer a unique perspective on how far one is willing to go, while testing just how much the other can tolerate to get what he wants before things come to the boiling point. Bottom line, just use ancestry sites to find rich relatives like a normal person, and things will probably turn out fine.
Catch "The Andy Baker Tape" streaming free, on Tubi now.
Madness Meter: 5.6/10
NB
