Repo Chick (2009)

Studio: CAV/Industrial Entertainment/Paper Street Films
Theatrical Release: September 9, 2009
Blu Ray Release: February 8, 2011
Not Rated

Review by James Klein

The 1984 comedy Repo Man is considered by some (myself included) as a cult classic. The film was a sleeper hit in 1984 and turned into a huge midnight movie with a big following. Director Alex Cox outdid himself in everyway and made one of the funniest satire's ever. Now, 25 years later he has come out with Repo Chick and although there are some actors from the 1984 film (playing new roles) this is in no way a sequel. There is no association with the 1984 film and by that I don't just mean plot or characters, I mean that it isn't funny or very good.

Shot on an extremely low budget, Repo Chick is shot entirely with green screen. Although this is a novel approach, it provided way too many distractions for me. I kept looking at the background and thinking of the making of this film rather than the actual film itself. I commend Cox for trying something different but it doesn't work at all. In fact, it made me think about how much I enjoyed Sin City but yet didn't care for 300. I can see why those films used green screen but was unsure why he chose to do so here aside from making a cheaper film.

The story itself is also a bore. The film is about a young lady named Pixie, a Paris Hilton-esque socialite who is kicked out of her home by her rich father and aunt due to her many arrests for bad driving. When she meets up with two repo men, she is hired by them to repossess cars. While working for them she soon finds out there is a million dollar reward for finding this lost train car which may be a trap by a bizarre group of terrorists who demand that the sport of golf is banned and the president of the United States turn vegan. If you thought the plot for Repo Man was a bit out there, wait till you see this. But even with a strange storyline, Cox and company miss out on the satire and jokes. He dropped the ball on what really could have been a funny movie. The characters themselves are just too over the top and silly and nothing they do or say is amusing. I will say I did find myself smiling and giggling at a few parts near the end of the film but it doesn't make up for the rest of the flick. I guess my question(s) to Cox would be: Why did you make this film? What was the point? It's not an awful film so to say, but just a weird experimental mess that ultimately fails.

Such a shame as the movie is loaded with some nice cameos and small roles by talented actors like Karen Black, Rosanna Arquette, Miguel Sandoval, Robert Beltran, and Chloe Webb. The blu ray looks fine and the featurette is interesting on how Cox made the film with interviews of the cast and crew. Cox really missed a great opportunity to make a semi-sequel to Repo Man. I appreciate the effort he put into the making (hell, his cameo is actually funnier than most of the film) of Repo Chick but it's not a movie I would recommend.