{"id":1987,"date":"2012-03-20T13:26:09","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T19:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=1987"},"modified":"2012-03-20T13:26:09","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T19:26:09","slug":"the-fp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=1987","title":{"rendered":"The FP"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Crude, sketchy and scattershot, \u201cThe FP\u201d wants desperately to win the love of cult- and B-movie lovers everywhere. A parody of 1980s sports dramas (like \u201cKickboxer\u201d) and \u201970s stoner action pictures (\u201cThe Warriors\u201d), with dashes of \u201cFlashdance\u201d glam and a setting faintly recalling Southern-fried revenge movies (say, \u201cWalking Tall,\u201d but with shoulder pads), it falls all over itself to lampoon its midnight-movie forebears even as it borrows their contrivances.
\nIn a not-too-distant future, two gangs wage a battle in Frazier Park, Calif. (\u201cthe FP\u201d), each employing champions in a competition involving a dance platform and a Space Invaders-like video game. When the noble BTRO (pronounced BEE-tro) (Brandon Barrera) is murdered through vague means by the dastardly, trash-talking L Dubba E (Lee Valmassy), BTRO\u2019s younger brother and prot\u00e9g\u00e9, the laconic JTRO (right, pronounced JAY-tro) (Jason Trost, in a \u201cKarate Kid\u201d headband) and an \u201cEscape From New York\u201d eye patch), retires from the game. A year later their friend KC\/DC (Art Hsu) urges JTRO to face L Dubba E. It helps that JTRO wants to rescue the trailer-park angel Stacey (Caitlyn Folley) from L Dubba E\u2019s clutches.<\/p>\n

This low-budget production comes courtesy of the Trost family: Sarah Trost designed the mix-and-match costumes; her brother Jason Trost conceived the story and wrote and directed it with the other brother, Brandon, who was also the cinematographer; their father, Ron Trost, was an executive producer and handled effects. But family ties don\u2019t help it cohere.<\/p>\n

The film has an effective synthesizer score by George Holdcroft. It also offers some funny bits (a hokey prechampionship workout montage, a ridiculous gunfight), but not enough. And for such a film, its bargain-basement production values and lack of wit unexpectedly prove a greater liability than an asset.<\/p>\n