Of late the comedy genre has been relatively speaking down. There have been the occasional dark comedies like American Fiction or female-centric films such as Joy Ride that have come out in recent years. The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer is one of the Darkest comedies I’ve ever seen. It’s just not a movie I’d expected to see, but I was glad I did.
Kern (John Magaro) is a writer who is currently writing a book about a Homosapien Woman who gets into a relationship with the last Neanderthal Man in Slovenia. This story takes place in 40,000 BC. His wife Susie (Britt Lower) is tired of him toiling away as a writer resting on his laurels and past successes. She tells him she wants a divorce. The writer is beside himself with despair and doesn’t know what to do about this when a man named Colmick (Steve Buscemi) comes into his life and changes everything for him.
At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a good film. That is until the Buscemi character comes into the picture. He says he’s a retired serial killer who wants the Magaro character to write a book about his life. Without using his name. He takes the man under his wing and starts to show him the world he lives in. Unfortunately due to a confluence of events he ends up as the marriage counselor of the man and his wife. This starts the dark comedy if you will. I couldn’t help but laugh at the obscurity of this situation.
Buscemi plays it straight and brings a level of acting he has been known for his entire career to this role. He lets Magaro and Lower have all the funny dialogue while he sits back and enjoys himself being the fly on the wall in this crazy dark comedy. The dichotomy of the scenario this group of people is in is what makes it so funny. The back and forth between the three main characters and the situations they’re in brings funny moments ever since the Buscemi character was introduced.
As a writer myself, I understand the whole thing surrounding trying to come up with a good story. The idea you need to find a story and you resort to believing this serial killer is crazy. Magaro, who has been in a few big films lately, has chosen projects very well in recent years and knew this was going to be a funny one. The back-and-forth and banter between the trio is just priceless at times. The director, Tolga Karacelick, and the writers get this material.
There are some details that help to make this an entertaining film besides the stuff I’ve already mentioned. Those are a sequence involving a Tom Wait song “Dead and Lonely” and references to Don Quixote and Sancho as well as “This is Truly a Story” which is a potential book title for the book that Magaro and Buscemi’s characters are throwing around. These in the context of the film are pretty funny things. You have to watch the movie to understand what I’m talking about.
There are clues to the world of serial killers in this story that make it all the more fun to watch. Buscemi’s character tries to teach Magaro’s character the ways of the serial killer and how he doesn’t get caught by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer. He studies them and by doing so he can stay one step ahead of them. These little things can help make the book Margaro’s character might write about being a serial killer much better.
The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer is hilarious at times. It takes a few minutes to get going, mostly because Buscemi hadn’t shown up yet. When he does the story, the dark comedy kicks into gear. There are a lot of inside serial killer references and interesting banter between the main three actors Margaro, Lower, and Buscemi. The director and writers understand the material they’re dealing with and they are winking at the audience watching this film. This is just a breath of fresh air of a movie because it’s so unlike anything you’ll see in theaters or on streaming right now. I can’t recommend this enough to everyone. Give it a chance when it comes to your area or town.
4 stars
Dan Skip Allen
From the Fourth Row! 
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