IN THE SOUP

IN THE SOUP introduces us to one naive, idealistic and totally broke young filmmaker, Aldolpho Rollo. While waiting for his big break, Aldolpho struggles to come up with money to pay the rent. An aging businessman, Joe, offers to finance Aldolpho’s dream script, but there are invisible strings attached, and Aldolpho debates about taking his offer. Some of what Joe wants in return involves stealing a $80,000 Porsche, breaking and entering a nice home, and hustling drugs. Aldolpho protests weakly to all of this, swept along by this wild man’s promises of the Great Film being made in the near future. Indeed, as his neighbor Angelica points out so succinctly, he is “stupid and dumb” to hang around with Joe–but since Joe also manages to push the pretty neighbor (with enough troubles of her own) in Aldolpho’s direction, he doesn’t seem to mind.

After a clever setup and despite some very competent acting, IN THE SOUP sputters its way through an interminable series of misadventures, further degraded by torrents of obscenity, sexual immorality and a lackadaisical attitude toward drinking and drug use. The movie does have its amusing moments, but it stalls badly, its 90 minutes seeming half again as long. Joe’s increasingly dangerous antics become merely oppressive, and Aldolpho’s continued acquiescence annoying. Some sort of disaster seems imminent–for the viewer, it’s the end of the film.