By no means am I a fan of Fundamentalist Christians, but if you're going to laugh at them, give them their due. Unfortunately, Robbie Pickering, in his new indie roadie dramedy, 'Natural Selection', chooses to take cheap pot shots at their expense. We're introduced to a devout Christian couple, Linda (Rachel Harris) and Abe (John Diehl). Linda's "sin" was to have an abortion as a teenager and then supposedly ended up barren from the botched procedure. For her sin, Abe chooses not have sexual relations with her for the rest of their marriage (now totaling 25 years). If that isn't despicable enough, Abe still wants children, and periodically goes to the local sperm bank where he can provide specimens for use by infertile couples. When Abe has a stroke while masturbating to a porn video at the clinic, Linda learns of his long-term betrayal.
While Linda does have a saving grace (her good nature), her moral imperative is markedly skewed. Out of a perverse loyalty, after surreptitiously and illegally foraging through the files at the sperm bank, she comes up with one of the names of Abe's progeny, Raymond, and leaves her hometown in Texas, traveling all the way to Florida, to bring him back, so that Abe's final wish to meet the errant prodigal son, is consummated.
Linda finally does locate Raymond, who turns her away at the door, as he doesn't want to hear any 'Jesus stuff'. It turns out that Raymond is a criminal who's just escaped from the State Penitentiary and has a penchant for remaining in a drug-induced stupor, all day long. While Raymond initially rejects all of Linda's entreaties, he has a sudden change of heart when the police come knocking on his door.
Pickering's idea of comedy is to contrast Linda's naïve belief that she can somehow 'change' Raymond with his stubborn attachment to the stoner lifestyle. Linda goes to absurd lengths to accommodate Raymond until he steals her Hatchback, and then promptly loses it. The ditsy Christian now appears to act more like a regular human being, as she now makes it clear to Raymond that she wants nothing more to do with him. But Raymond won't give up and now pursues her with more vehemence. The years without sex has taken its toll on Linda, and she now succumbs to Raymond's advances. The new found romance is interrupted by Linda's brother-in-law, Peter, the pastor of Abe and Linda's church, who has tracked the errant couple down, and almost kills Raymond, by firing a gun at him in the couple's motel room. Peter suffers a broken nose after Linda slugs him, landing him in the hospital.
'Natural Selection' ends on a happy note of sorts. Linda learns that she's not barren after all and rejects both Abe (now in a wheelchair) and Raymond, who has morphed into an unlikely lovesick puppy dog, pining away for a rekindled romance with Linda. As for the now sadder but wiser former devout Christian, she takes a trip to the beach where presumably she'll bond with nature, and contemplate her impending motherhood.
'Natural Selection' might have been more successful had Pickering treated his Fundamentalist Christians with a little more good-natured ribbing than the surly group and the heavy-handed machinations, he proffers up here. And even with the good-natured Linda, she comes off as a fool for putting up with the boorish antics of Raymond and eventually capitulating to his dubious charms.
The performances here are good, particularly Rachael Harris as Linda, who actually does have some bona fide comedy chops. But there's little to laugh at, including the aforementioned pot shots at fundamentalist Christians, the unhealthy relationship between Linda and Raymond, which ultimately becomes tiresome, and Raymond's love sick puppy dog act at film's end. On the plus side, watch out for the neat twist at the denouement, when we learn that Raymond is actually Clyde, and was using his roommate Raymond's name, as an alias!
If 'Natural Selection' does have a redeeming point, it's the unbridled optimism of the film's protagonist, Linda, who despite her wacky demeanor, proves that there's always some kind of light at the end of the tunnel. But ultimately, her encounter with a coterie of unpleasant antagonists, relegates 'Natural Selection' to the predictable limbo of a quirky, few laughs, indie roadie dramedy.
While Linda does have a saving grace (her good nature), her moral imperative is markedly skewed. Out of a perverse loyalty, after surreptitiously and illegally foraging through the files at the sperm bank, she comes up with one of the names of Abe's progeny, Raymond, and leaves her hometown in Texas, traveling all the way to Florida, to bring him back, so that Abe's final wish to meet the errant prodigal son, is consummated.
Linda finally does locate Raymond, who turns her away at the door, as he doesn't want to hear any 'Jesus stuff'. It turns out that Raymond is a criminal who's just escaped from the State Penitentiary and has a penchant for remaining in a drug-induced stupor, all day long. While Raymond initially rejects all of Linda's entreaties, he has a sudden change of heart when the police come knocking on his door.
Pickering's idea of comedy is to contrast Linda's naïve belief that she can somehow 'change' Raymond with his stubborn attachment to the stoner lifestyle. Linda goes to absurd lengths to accommodate Raymond until he steals her Hatchback, and then promptly loses it. The ditsy Christian now appears to act more like a regular human being, as she now makes it clear to Raymond that she wants nothing more to do with him. But Raymond won't give up and now pursues her with more vehemence. The years without sex has taken its toll on Linda, and she now succumbs to Raymond's advances. The new found romance is interrupted by Linda's brother-in-law, Peter, the pastor of Abe and Linda's church, who has tracked the errant couple down, and almost kills Raymond, by firing a gun at him in the couple's motel room. Peter suffers a broken nose after Linda slugs him, landing him in the hospital.
'Natural Selection' ends on a happy note of sorts. Linda learns that she's not barren after all and rejects both Abe (now in a wheelchair) and Raymond, who has morphed into an unlikely lovesick puppy dog, pining away for a rekindled romance with Linda. As for the now sadder but wiser former devout Christian, she takes a trip to the beach where presumably she'll bond with nature, and contemplate her impending motherhood.
'Natural Selection' might have been more successful had Pickering treated his Fundamentalist Christians with a little more good-natured ribbing than the surly group and the heavy-handed machinations, he proffers up here. And even with the good-natured Linda, she comes off as a fool for putting up with the boorish antics of Raymond and eventually capitulating to his dubious charms.
The performances here are good, particularly Rachael Harris as Linda, who actually does have some bona fide comedy chops. But there's little to laugh at, including the aforementioned pot shots at fundamentalist Christians, the unhealthy relationship between Linda and Raymond, which ultimately becomes tiresome, and Raymond's love sick puppy dog act at film's end. On the plus side, watch out for the neat twist at the denouement, when we learn that Raymond is actually Clyde, and was using his roommate Raymond's name, as an alias!
If 'Natural Selection' does have a redeeming point, it's the unbridled optimism of the film's protagonist, Linda, who despite her wacky demeanor, proves that there's always some kind of light at the end of the tunnel. But ultimately, her encounter with a coterie of unpleasant antagonists, relegates 'Natural Selection' to the predictable limbo of a quirky, few laughs, indie roadie dramedy.