After recently reviewing surreal horror comedy Bluetooth Speaker, the director of that; Dallas Ryan, asked me if I wanted to check out another film of his. That film was the 2023 indie comedy Chicken Dinner Restaurant. He pre-warned me that it wasn't a horror, but figuring it would have the same surreal comedy his horror films do, I decided to check it out. I feel surreal comedy is a distant cousin of horror, both share a somewhat unsettling quality.
Chloe (Chloe Brewer - Bluetooth Speaker, Live One), Dallas (Dallas Ryan - Bluetooth Speaker, Live One) and Ryan (Ryan Vania - Bluetooth Speaker, Live One) are three employees at CDR (chicken dinner restaurant obviously). One day, on their lunch break, Dallas informs them that he found an old treasure map at his home, and that if they follow the clues on the map that they will discover the legendary lost gold of Fester Hopperfoot.
This indie comedy was easily identifiable as being one of the director's films. He has a unique style that has his comedy being played straight, yet being very weird at the same time. This was co-written by the three stars, and was apparently based on their TV show The Chloe, Dallas, and Ryan Show. From the clear story at the start, this descends into something more akin to a sketch show, with the three leads playing a variety of characters, many of these characters looking identical aside from wearing different clothing. Most the time, the characters even share the exact same names as one another. The story about the search for the hidden gold is a minor one within the film. The other subplots make up the rest of the film and include such bizarre moments as a news reporter trying to uncover what has happened to L.A's Tupperware, and three candidates for the position of mayor, who are all endorsing the use of drugs as part of their campaign pledge. That last one had the most screen time, with the three characters constantly giving speeches to the camera. Nearly the entire film is shot outside, mostly in and around parking lots, and much of this has characters directly talking to the camera, rather than to each other, with it inferred they are being filmed by a camera crew. The same actors playing identical looking characters means that title cards for each new scene are given, to give some background on who the characters were. I actually thought those moments, along with the chill music, were some of the more pleasant moments to be found here.
These scenes, and dialogues are all interspersed with the popcorn munching 'movie watcher' (Steve Bilecz - Bluetooth Speaker, Live One), a character outside the movie proper who represents the viewer, and who points out the inconsistencies and flaws of the filmmaking. From complaining about the loud background interference that plagues the outdoor scenes, to pointing out that the locations used and characters that appear all look very similar to each other, he speaks for the viewer. Usually, I find the films of Ryan to outstay their welcome, I was surprised then to see that Chicken Dinner Restaurant runs for a nice and lean 68 minutes. Even at this length, it felt almost a bit overlong, not helped by a chaotic edited finale that was a mishmash of images edited together with discordant music playing for around six of the final eight minutes.
The comedy isn't given via jokes and visual humour, instead it is via the random dialogue characters speak. Like the other films, it sometimes felt like the lines were being made up on the spot, with frequent repetition, and over empathising different words. This is compounded by editing techniques that include lines of dialogue being repeated over and over again (in one instance for literal minutes!), and characters motions being repeated. Sometimes with the view zooming in with each subsequent repetition, sometimes with the film speed slowed down. These were all odd but entertaining, if occasionally a bit indulgent. Elsewhere, where dialogue is edited it becomes really noticeable, with dead silence replacing the near constant background hum of traffic and people going about their days, rather than words beeped out.
This was a weird indie comedy that had all the hallmarks that I have come to expect from the director. This is a film that recognises its budget constraints, and even uses these as a way to further its comedy. More an extended sketch show than a film proper, it might have started to feel a bit samey by the time the end credits rolled, but this was a chilled affair, and one that remains consistent throughout. Chicken Dinner Restaurant isn't going to appeal to everyone, but it really wasn't bad. Chicken Dinner Restaurant can be viewed on Tubi.
SCORE:
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