Movie #182........................."Jeffie Was Here"

Movie #182 "Jeffie Was Here" was the comedy we saw at the Phoenix Film Festival last night, and we both gave it 3 stars. I'll put the plot in here, as well, since it isn't listed on netflix --- but it might be, some day, who knows? The guys who put the film together are also in it --- Todd Edwards and Peter Bedgood, and their gain to fame is an animated film they wrote entitled "Hoodwinked" which I didn't know about (I plan to see it in the future, if it's avaialble on netflix). Anyway, "Jeffie" is about a college professor and live-in girlfriend who are in dire straits when it comes to money --- you can tell this in the opening scene, because their apartment they are renting on the east coast is the size of a small closet. Anyway, an opening phone call beckons the professor home (on the west coast) and they can't afford the trip ---------unless, they advertise for a third person to accompany them on the trip........entrance Jeffie, and the comedy escalates (too much, in my opinion) on his entrance. He becomes an annoying traveling companion (that's an understatement) as this film gets bigger, bigger, and bigger until it builds to its unrealistic climax. The movie works too hard to get the jokes. It takes too long to get its jokes, and the guy playing Jeffie is not Bill Murray --- whom he is trying to be, because this movie is a lot like "What About Bob?" in the premise. One thing Bill Murray had was some charisma, which this guy lacks, so we find him as annoying as the couple do, and that doesn't help the comedy here. There are some funny bits, and it's quite an ambitious film and it DOES take risks, and some people would probably LOVE it, but we just thought it was way over the top (and past that stupid line!)