The old saying of “you don’t know what you really have until it’s gone,” is probably the proverbial horse that has received the most abuse in the romantic comedy genre of film. Whether it be a male or female protagonist, the device is a “go-to” move for screenwriters when they are either too lazy to conjure up a truly original method of propelling the story or are just incapable of doing so. Either way, the method is still something that can work into a tolerable piece of cinema if it accompanies great writing and layered characters. Appropriately titled, CAVEMEN has no ambition to break the mold, and instead of trying to squeeze every ounce of blood from a dry rock, it sends the romantic comedy back to the Stone Age.
Dean (Skylar Astin, GLEE) is an aspiring screen writer trying to make his mark in Los Angeles while working as a bartender and sharing a warehouse that’s been converted into an apartment with his three “bro” roommates. Dubbed “The Cave,” by Dean and his compatriots, their living quarters is the perfect party bachelor pad, with nothing but sheets for walls and always stocked with alcohol and pretty women. Lately though, Dean is finding it harder to concentrate on his love story screenplay with the constant distractions from his personal life, which ignites a sense of doubt on his ability to express a poignant take on the subject as he comes to terms with the fact that he’s never really experienced true love himself.
Perhaps trying too hard to earn the significance of its title, CAVEMEN tosses just about every primitive “guy” cliché against the wall and seems to not even care whether they stick. Though the most egregious gaffe of writer/director Herschel Faber’s screenplay is that the “caveman” moniker does not at all mesh with the four actors that were selected to portray men with supposedly limited scruples. Skylar Astin who resembles a weaker, less funny version of Dane Cook (GOOD LUCK CHUCK), has no business even being friends with the other three male inhabitants of the “The Cave,” much less roommates. Astin’s character Dean seems to have very little in common with his buds as they seek sexual conquest after sexual conquest, while Dean is the quintessential sad-sack romantic, too blind to see that all the qualities he’s ever been looking for in a woman have been right in front of his face encased in the gorgeous exterior of his best female friend who also has an obvious crush on him.
The script seems to rely on the “cleverness” that Dean is a screenwriter and all the interesting things that are happening to him will ultimately help with his writer’s block. Except nothing interesting happens at all. Unless of course you count how amazing it is that a character as dimwitted and one dimensional as Dean can still be perpetrated on today’s audiences with an expectation of acceptance. And with the exception of a Halley’s Comet interval of decent comedic dialogue from Chad Michael Murray’s (ONE TREE HILL) Jay, there’s not a whole lot in the film to distract you from the ponderous love tale of the least interesting man in the world.
Video: 1080p/AVC MPEG-4, 2.40:1 Widescreen: There’s nothing at all to boast about how CAVEMEN was shot, but at least it was shot with a good camera. The video is clean, crisp and the colors are vibrant enough. Sharpness and black levels are also rather nice, and the poorly-lit “cave” is displayed without sacrificing any details, exemplifying how pretty the actors are, which unfortunately is this film’s best quality.
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1: There’s not much heavy lifting for this audio track to accomplish, the dialogue is clear, although sometimes you’d wish it wasn’t, but it does do a nice job in portraying busy, party-like atmospheres without sacrificing all the background noise in favor of overly robust vocal tracks.
The only Bonus Content on the disc is the Movie Trailer
