Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

A New Wave is doomed to be hilariously bad right from the start. It’s a direct-to-DVD release from first-time writer/director Jason Carvey and starring Andrew Keegan, so I wasn’t expecting much. With a bland, uneven script, cheap production values, amateur camera work, and an emotionless lead couple the movie looks like a student film that probably should have never seen the light of day.

Here’s the basic “plot”: Desmond is a bank teller with artistic aspirations. Played with dull passivity by Andrew Keegan (who’s hair manages to look wet and greasy throughout the entire film), Desmond is dating wealthy student Julie (Lacey Chabert). Together they have one of the most passionless, forced romances I have ever seen on screen. Desmond is best buds with his scheming, wisecracking roommate Gideon (John Krasinski) and the ambiguously British Rupert (Dean Edwards, using a terribly fake accent).

The down-on-their-luck trio hatches a plan to rob the bank where Desmond works. But as the day of their robbery draws near, Desmond unexpectedly gets some life-changing opportunities thrown his way that make him rethink going through with the crime. Everything goes horribly wrong. And I mean that quite literally.

There are many things that make A New Wave unbelievably awful. There’s the bank robbing plan itself, which isn’t really thought out or taken seriously at all (Gideon disguises the plan in the form of a screenplay). There’s the chemistry-less Desmond/Julie relationship (He stands her up for dinner, then spends the night in a lawn chair outside her bedroom window so she’ll forgive him). There’s the long-haired French gun dealer with the pornographic art collection whom the guys meet up with (Most pointless scene ever). Then there’s the dreadful ending, too silly to even be discussed.

Krasinski’s movie-obsessed slacker is the only thing that got me through watching this trash without throwing the TV (or myself) out the window. He shines as the funny actor and an all-around sweet guy on NBC’s The Office and he’s apparently the only one in this movie with any talent to spare. Here, he’s able to showcase his knack for spicing up boring dialogue. He has a few funny lines and moments, but even that can’t save him from looking absolutely ridiculous in the movie’s final scene. I felt myself wanting to shout, “Why, John? Why? You’re so much better than this!” The only thing I can think of is maybe he took the role as a favor for a friend.

This DVD also contains special features, in case you’re looking to waste any more of your life. There are deleted scenes, but if you ask me all of the scenes in the movie warranted deletion. There are outtakes, even though the movie produces many unintentional laughs as it is. (But I’ll admit, the outtakes of John choking on his drink are pretty funny.) And lastly, there’s a music video for a band called Sunriser.

For a ...