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‘Rats!’ Review: Absurdist Suburban Nightmare Suggests Comic Surrealism Is Also Bigger in Texas
Maxwell Nalevansky and Carl Fry’s first feature is an absurdist suburban nightmare whose more lowbrow impulses get rescued by general unpredictability.
Among many colorful characters surfacing in the margins here are a Dollar Store cashier (John Valley) who thinks he’s Steven Seagal, a hostile “squatter” housemate (Marc Livingood) whom Mateo tolerates, a married couple with desperate aspirations toward local-TV-news stardom (Ariel Ash, Brian Villalobos) and so forth. This is just my … circumstance.”) Some running non sequiturs never land, such as a severed-hand epidemic discussed only as if the word were pronounced “Hans.” A few detours are kinda meh, like rapper and cast member Ka5sh’s music video for “I Love Selling Crack.” If that last sentiment is meant to be glazed in retro irony, it’s still no funnier than it would have been 40 years ago. But “Rats!” nonetheless does provide a good time overall, thanks in large part to Fry’s lively, varied editorial pace and punchy visual ideas highlighted by production designer Sadie Moore’s colorful decking out of the main location, Mateo’s house.
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