“Wait.  I got a Wookiee in my office.” – Dan Narvali, forty-eight.

forty-eight (how not to make a film in 2 days) (2004 independant film)

By Matt Head and Adam Skinner

It’s hard to believe that the early 2000s were so long ago! Get ready to feel old:  they were!  The short film called forty-eight by local Kitchener filmmakers Matt Head and Adam Skinner sure proves that time has elapsed.  Witness:  the goth-emo-punk clothes, the ear tunnels, and a sense of humour that was on point for 2004, but terribly dated by 2024.

Skinner and Head originated in a local “Jackass” style comedy group called Me6.  In the wild wild days before YouTube, these guys were buying used Blockbuster uniforms and filming themselves whilst pretending to work at the hallowed video rental establishment.  Me6 would hit each other in the head with frying pans.  What they did wasn’t subtle or original, but it was local.  Given that Jackass was one of the biggest franchises in the world, fans were seeking more of that style of stunt comedy online.  Me6 were on the pulse during an age when the internet was not yet saturated.  All they really needed was some originality.

Forty-eight is very original.  It is an 18 minute film, and the project that showed what Skinner and Head were capable of doing themselves.

Matt and Adam play fictional versions of themselves.  At breakfast one morning, Adam spies an ad for a film festival in two days.  Matt is skeptical that they can come up with a movie in just 48 hours, but suddenly has an idea:  a summetime fun movie!  The only problem is it’s February.  The project is abandoned in favour of a supposedly better one.  Seeking funding from a local lawyer named Dan Narvali, the pair secure $71.50 to do another film idea:  Dan Narvali’s Killer in the Basement.  Actors and a crew are hired, and things immediately deteriorate.  Blame falls directly upon the disorganized shoulders of Skinner and Head.  Everyone quits.  Dan Narvali’s Killer in the Basement is changed to Baseball Dog, which fails to launch, and changes to a fantasy film.  The high fantasy changes to Sexparty, then a war movie, and finally to Ghosts With Guns.  Strife within the crew, and everyone constantly trying to get the only female cast member to take her top off, causes everything to crash to a halt.  Will the duo ever get a movie made in time for the festival?

The humour is largely crude, relying on gay slurs and sexual harassment jokes.  One always must remember the time in which a movie was created.  Compared to any other vulgar comedy in 2004, this is on par.  There are also things that are objectively funny, such as trying to make a fantasy film called Quest for the Crown starring a girl wearing a snake suit while wielding a rifle.  There’s also a genuine moment of laughter when one actor falls down a snowy hill yelling, “We’re gonna take the crown!  Cover me Serpentina!”  The performances are spot-on, spontaneous and big time.  These are funny actors.

The DVD comes with deleted scenes, gag reel, stills, and an informative audio commentary track by Skinner and Head.

As a product of its time, forty-eight is a serious accomplishment for independent filmmakers.  The movie really was made in just two days.  However, the cringe factor today ranges from uncomfortable to gross.

3.5/5 stars