The Carrying On of A Wayward Son

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee is the latest collaboration between filmmaker Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine (In America).

In the tradition of This is Spinal Tap, Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee is shot as a mockumentary about Le Donk, a washed up roadie with dreams of rock stardom, and his young protégé Scor-zay-zee, an overweight soft-spoken rapper with true talent.

Meadows, playing himself, is a filmmaker following the two around in the days leading up to a music festival — a catalyst that Le Donk hopes will launch his sidekick’s career. The only problem is they weren’t invited to perform.

Considine is pitch-perfect as a selfish slug that, because of his own callous nature, has been dumped by his pregnant girlfriend and, for all intents and purposes, been written out of her life. Throwing himself into his latest mission, he takes Scorz under his wing, promising the sky to the impressionable youth — as long as the kid is able to put up with Le Donk’s frequent verbal abuse.

When Scorz’s rapping is overheard by the British pop band Arctic Monkeys and the musician finally gets the break he was hoping for, Le Donk latches on for dear life — hoping to ride his sidekicks’ fame into his own pie-in-the-sky dreams of success.

While the film is certainly funny and the actors’ improvisation more often then not a riot, things never align quite right to create a masterpiece. In the end, the film is enjoyable while you are watching it but fails to leave an impression that will stick more then 24 hours later.

For a short film (the running time is a little over 70 minutes), quite a bit of the story is spent on musical performances — mostly from real-life rapper Scorz-zay-zee (real name Dean Palinczuk). When the rapper is not busting rhymes, the movie meanders slowly through the tad-underwhelming plot — never really striving for much in the story department.

The real focus of the movie — perhaps rightfully so — is the character created by Considine. The movie is a showcase for the actor’s improvisational ability and, with the help of Meadow’s script, Considine is able to affect some real character growth for Le Donk.

Scor-zay-zee is a bit of harmless fluff — something perfect to watch on a lazy afternoon or in between some of the weighty documentaries being shown at SXSW.

~ by robsaucedo2500 on April 12, 2010.

Posted in Movies
Tags: Arctic Monkeys, In America, Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee, Movies, Paddy Considine, Scor-zay-zee, Shane Meadows, South by Southwest, This is Spinal Tap