Highly Overrated But Still Good

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This is a hard one to describe even for a Scorpio Film Releasing movie. You are getting what you think you are getting with a title like Accidental Incest. To start with this film is based on the play Accidental Incest: Someone for Everyone written by Lenny Schwartz. Lenny has written 2 screenplays for Scorpio Films prior to this (Murder University and Normal) so when the time came for his play to be translated to the screen he entrusted it to Richard Griffin. The film is about Milton and Kendra two people who can't find someone who gets and loves them until they find each other (after both suffer a near death experience). Unfortunately they find out after they have found each other that they are fact brother and sister by the same father. This doesn't stop them from wanting to be together but the reaction by the outside world is pure unadulterated horror. The film is the two stalwarts trying to navigate through the immense mine field of society they have stepped into. The film is funny, sleazy, raunchy, and surprisingly heart warming in the end. The film is at it's core about two people loving each other despite the reaction of those around them. As with every Scorpio film the acting is superb with Jamie Lynn Bagley, Michael Thurber, Jamie Dufault, Jesse Dufault, Jose Guns Alves, Steven O'Broin, and Anna Rizzo all turning in outstanding performances. The standouts though are the leads Johnny Sederquest and Elyssa Baldassarri. Their work was a revelation for me having seen them in several other films but never seeing them up their games to this level. Another personal favorite performance after Johnny and Elyssa was Aaron Andrade as God. This film has everything for anyone. At it's core it's about conquering loneliness and finding your match even if it's your sister or brother.

ACCIDENTAL INCEST is a hilariously entertaining dark romantic-comedy. If you haven't gathered from the title, the film is anything but "safe" and is full of content that will make you cringe as well as laugh. It's irreverent humor at its absolute finest. From the warped minds of director Richard Griffin and writer Lenny Schwartz (based on his off Broadway play no less!), the film very seldom (if ever) lets up with the amount of on-screen insanity. Not only does incest figure into the plot, but also crime and violence, cuckolding, leather garbed gimps, and (without giving away too much), Nicolas Cage! The fact that the film is almost entirely in black and white aids tremendously in conveying the film's bleaker moments and manages to well, make the experience feel even dirtier! Did I mention there are musical numbers? Yes, by the time the movie has ended, you'll have figuratively had multiple kitchen sinks thrown at you. One musical sequence in particular is so well done that it rivals (or even surpasses) Griffin's infamous "Jesus Song" from NUN OF THAT. The filmmakers deserve a lot of credit for not playing it the least bit safe with this one. There are few movies that can be so fun while also making you uncomfortable, but ACCIDENTAL INCEST is definitely one of those films. The cast of Griffin regulars all perform well, but Johnny Sederquist stands out foremost as the male lead. He's got an intensity that matches Kinski or Nicholson levels and he is perfect in the role of Milton (coming complete with a creepy level 3 offending tongue tic no less!). Despite being much more understated in comparison, Elyssa Baldassarri is also great in the female lead role of Kendra (Milton's sister). It's nice to see her and Sederquist as main players for a change and Baldassarri has got quite a bit of charisma as well as beauty. In sum, ACCIDENTAL INCEST is an extremely satisfying film that will make you smile as much as want to take a shower! You'll be hard-pressed to find many movies like it.