MISTER AMERICA (2019)
Starring Tim Heidecker, Gregg Turkington, Terri Parks
Directed by Eric Notarnicola
Written by Tim Heidecker, Gregg Turkington, Eric Notarnicola
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures. 86 minutes. Opens in select theatres on Wednesday, October 9th at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown LA.
After the election of 2016, it’s impossible to imagine that another brash, egotistical TV personality could get elected to public office. Enter Tim Heidecker – yes, the actor and character have the same name – as he runs for District Attorney of San Bernardino, CA in the mock-documentary Mister America. It may seem that the purpose of this mockumentary is to answer the question, “Will this guy actually win?” but director Eric Notarnicola shows us how far actor, writer, and character Tim Heidecker will go to make himself, and politicians like his character, the punchline.
The character of “Tim Heidecker” comes from his podcast turned Adult Swim show On Cinema at the Cinema where Heidecker and Gregg Turkington co-host a local cable access movie review series. In the show, Heidecker is truly unaware of film and movies and gives meaningless critiques with the gusto and certainty of a Roger Ebert. This character is continued into Mister America as filmmaker Josh Lorton (Eric Notarnicola) follows Heidecker’s campaign to become District Attorney against the incumbent Vincent Rosetti (Don Pecchia). The motive for Heidecker’s sudden call to politics follows his trial where he was accused of killing 18 people during his Electric Sun Festival from malfunctioning vapes. As you may have guessed, Vincent Rosetti was the D.A. for the case. After Heidecker was found not guilty, he began his smear campaign against Rosetti calling him a “Rat” and threatening to run himself. Heidecker claims he is the best lawyer because he represented himself, got a mistrial, and took down the “Rat.” Even though this is a mockumentary, the name-calling and arrogance by those seeking political power feel all too familiar to our actual reality.
The parallels between Heidecker’s fictional character and real politicians are eerie, but a fascinating deep dive into how our political system works as a whole. Heidecker, Turkington, and Notarnicola do an expert job in picking apart what candidates must do during an election and expose the current themes of our elections since 2016. Most notable is Heidecker’s consist sound bite “Strong on crime, against corruption,” along with his promise to have a 100% reduction in crime. Not once does a potential voter, his campaign manager, nor filmmaker Josh Lorton ask him what his plan is, or how he’ll make this a reality. Rather, the brash and outlandish statement garners no critical thinking from any party. One of the more comical bits comes from the political signs that Heidecker takes to hang in restaurants with his slogan “We have a rat problem” in bold, large print. Only one place does not give him permission and it’s hilarious to see how many others allow it, again, just blindly accepting because of his boisterous personality.
Mister America can be summed up best by Judge Edward Szymczyk’s (Curtis Webster) short and accurate description Tim Heidecker: “Style over substance.” We are left thinking how outrageous Heidecker is and called to reflect on current elections and the sideshows they have become.
