Age of The Nerd
You might recognize him from The Office, Kickass, and Hot Tub Time Machine his name is Clark Duke, and he just made his directorial debut with the film Arkansas. Not only did Clark direct the film, but he also wrote, starred in, and help produce the film. A triple threat with a delivery that makes for an overall entertaining film.
Duke stars as (Swin) who alongside Liam Hemsworth (Kyle) are drug runners for a drug kingpin named Frog who is played very brilliantly by Vince Vaughn. When mistakes are made, and things go awry Swin and Kyle find themselves in a deadly situation. The cast is full of noteworthy actors including John Malkovich, Vivica A. Fox, and Michael Kenneth Williams.
Arkansas is based on a book by John Brandon that was published in 2009. Duke co-wrote the script with Andrew Boonkrong. The film has a run time of an hour and fifty-seven minutes. If you want a shoot and boom film this is not that, but it is a film that explores character development and story. And the delivery of the boom is worth the wait.
The chemistry between Swin and Kyle is instant when they first appear on screen. And the audience can instantly tell the characters personalities are way different from one another, and one of the selling points of the story for me was wandering who would turn on who first, but the result is very satisfying. In these types of films characters tend to turn on each other at an extremely fast pace, it was good to see pacing and development between the characters.
I personally liked the fact the Swin wore a different pro wrestler t-shirt each day. You can tell that Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brother’s were a big influence on Duke, and the way the film was shot. And who could blame him since the Coen’s and Tarantino know how to handle the genre so well.
This was a very entertaining and fun film to watch and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for Clark Duke and the stories he wants to tell from behind the camera.
Check out the official trailer below:
