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Jezizup [Celluloid 07.19.10] movie review comedy

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Year: 2009
Directors: Cliff Bogart & Kyle Bogart
Writers: Cliff Bogart & Kyle Bogart
IMDB: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Jezizup
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Artois the Goat is a light, breezy, happy film. It’s silly and slapstick at times, and the mood is consistently cheerful. The directors rely on stunning camera shots and physical acting to set the tone rather than an overly wordy script. The characters rarely speak; they don’t need to because everything we need to know is right there on the screen. The whimsical, slightly absurd feeling of this movie reminded me of Amelie at first…the only difference was, Amelie was able to carry that feeling throughout an entire film, while Artois the Goat can’t sustain it.


The film follows the story of Virgil Gurdies (Mark Sheibmeir), a regular guy/cheese lover who works in a lab generating artificial flavor additives. Virgil wants to marry his girlfriend …except she wants him to leave beautiful San Francisco for a life of dreariness in Detroit. Virgil quits his job and buys some goats – determined to make a goat cheese that is good enough to win him a prize at the annual International Cheese Consortium. Winning the prize would mean more than just getting a blue ribbon – it would give him a chance to leave the corporate world forever.

Really the heart of the movie is a dream – the dream of doing something for yourself, of creating something unique, of being your own boss – all very romantic notions. Most people imagine quitting their jobs and starting their own winery, bookstore, website, etc…but few actually do it because, well, it’s really hard to do. But luckily for Virgil, he lives in a world without Wal-Mart, where it is still possible to have your own modest cheese business without being crushed under the long arm of corporate America.

The main problem with Artois the Goat was that it simply couldn’t sustain the breezy, euphoric mood throughout the entire film. The beginning was awesome, then the second and third acts kind of dragged. A little bit of editing would’ve gone a long way to tighten up the story. (For instance, I could’ve done without the tighty-whitey dream sequences.) Also, there were some moments when the slapstick comedy became a little too much for me.

There were still plenty of bright spots in the film – most notably newcomer Stephen Taylor Fry, who plays Virgil’s weirdo, cheese-loving friend. This movie does a great job of satirizing the corporate world as well as the ridiculous world of imitation foods. There are plenty of crazy scenes and cool shots that will probably put a smile on your face, so I say it’s worth watching.

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Anonymous (1 year ago) Reply

Artois the Goat was filmed in and around Austin, TX!


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