Not exactly a career boosting film for lead man Jamie Kennedy.
by Martin Hafer
Buddy Hutchins‘ star Jamie Kennedy might not be a household name, and you may not immediately recognize his face, but Kennedy is a prolific actor with over 80 TV and movie credits. However, doing films like Buddy Hutchins will not boost his career or land him better roles. Although, we all have to earn a living somehow, right?
- Buddy Hutchins
- Directed by
Jared Cohn - Cast
Jamie Kennedy, Sally Kirkland, Sara Malakul Lane - Release Date
14 February 2015 - Martin’s Grade: D
The first half of the film is pretty good and Kennedy is great playing a guy whose life keeps getting worse and worse as the screws get tighter. At first you like him and he’s trying to do the best that he can, but his sobriety and family life soon start crumbling away. But it gets even worse. In fact, I challenge you to find a film where anyone’s life gets this bad so quickly! Heck, guys on death row would probably feel sorry for Buddy it’s so bad.
I appreciated this and expected that sooner or later Buddy would just snap. And, when he did, it was not his fault. I liked that the first two people he killed were clearly cases of self-defense–it made for an exciting second half. Unfortunately, when the film should have hit its stride, the movie just fell apart and looked almost like a Friday the 13th riff–with Buddy brutally killing people who just didn’t deserve it.
*****
Many of the killings were frightfully gross (think chainsaws). Because of this, and because the second half of the film lacked a plot and it also suffered from poor resolution, I worry that some folk might enjoy the movie for the wrong reason. I just hated Buddy Hutchins by the time it was over…and it took way too long for the final credits to roll by. It’s all a shame, as clearly Jamie Kennedy is very talented. He did a great job in making you care about him while played an excellent ‘dry drunk’ (in essence, a guy who isn’t boozing but is still stuck in the sick patterns of an alcoholic).
If you do watch this film, see if you can spot the mistake. During Buddy’s divorce trial, the judge says that the case is in California and there is the Californian flag behind him. Yet, there’s also a state seal for Nevada next to the flag. Oops!
