Austin’s South By Southwest film festival is the perfect venue for a movie like The Snake, a film which proudly belongs to a delightfully despicable group of movies like Choke or The Foot Fist Way. These are movies which can only be properly appreciated if you’re in possession of a sick, twisted, demented, completely fucking amoral sense of humor. Hey, I have that! So do most of you, even if you don’t want to admit it. For those of you who have, line up you cynical bastards, The Snake will make you lose your ass to laughs.
It’s about a true sleezeball, a completely insecure piece of crap who lives his life to bang hot chicks and win the approval of his equally douche bag friends. This sleezeball’s name is Ken (Adam Goldstein), and he’s The Snake.
When as a joke one of Ken’s friend’s tells him the super hot girl he’s just convinced to give him his number is too fat (even though she’s not), Ken embarks on a quest to find a girl skinny enough to earn the approval of his asshole buds. He stumbles across a bulimic named Talia (Nina Braddock), and starts stalking her. Soon he’s wormed his way into her body image group, where he pretends to have a problem with his height to get close with her. His arch nemesis is the group’s butch lesbian Natalie (Melanie Case) who, secretly harbors a similar crush on way too skinny Talia. Ken defeats her with lies and a bucket of oatmeal. Later he snakes his way into Talia’s bed by enabling her bulimia. It’s hilarious.
It works because Ken is human garbage and the movie invites us in to laugh at him. It’s alright to laugh, because he’s shit and he deserves our scorn. There’s some attempt to give Ken a past and indeed the movie does a good job of getting inside his head. Maybe he’s not a total waste product after all, but the fun is in watching Ken fuck up himself and everyone around him. Maybe we’ll all feel guilty about it later, but in the process of getting our dark side off Goldstein creates one of the most memorable scumbag movie characters in recent memory.
Actor/Comedian Patton Oswalt introduces The Snake's writer/director Eric Kutner and writer/director/star Adam Goldstein before a packed out Alamo Drafthouse crowd. (From left to right Kunter, Goldstein, Oswalt)
Cast and crew answer audience questions after the premiere of The Snake. From left to right Melanie Case, Eric Kutner, Adam Goldstein, Stefanie Goldstein (no relation).
