FUBAR: Balls to the Wall

Spotlight Premieres
D: Michael Dowse; with David Lawrence, Paul Spence, Tracey Lawrence

Terry and Dean live like the world is one big heavy-metal parking lot. In the parlance of Western Canada, they “give’r” or achieve the seemingly impossible through an adherence to the tenets of hard-rock culture that may include a series of drop-kicks and shotgunned beers. Opening with an anniversary beer bash marking the loss of Dean’s cancerous testicle, the film reintroduces the duo with a severe lack of money, jobs, and women. Adulthood suits Terry who moves in with the town slut and finds steady income, while Dean finds the dream of metal stardom increasingly and devastatingly elusive. What begins as an oft-told tale of interminable screw-ups ratchets up and up until the left-field climax complete with a gnarled family tree, Geddy Lee vocal stylings, and a Christmas reunion that makes The Family Stone look like the Waltons. In other words, they give’r.

This article appears in March 18 • 2011.

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James graduated from Columbia University in 2000 and moved to Austin a year later. Ever since, he has followed the arts and video game scene in ATX, editing and writing stories for the Chronicle along the way. Over his more than 20 years with the paper he has climbed the "corporate" ladder from lowly intern to managing editor.