Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Etienne!

CineVegas lineup

Richard Vallejos as Richard in Etienne, which will have its world premiere at the 2009 CineVegas in the Palms.

Ah, those nutty hipsters, what with their halting speech, their pinhole cameras, their thrift-store clothing, their ironic mustaches, their complicated musical genres and their single-minded missions to take their cancer-riddled dwarf hamsters on coastal bike tours of upstate California before they must be put to sleep.

CineVegas 2009

Etienne!
Two and a half stars
Caveh Zahedi, Megan Harvey, Richard Vallejos.
Directed by Jeff Mizushima
Screens June 13, 3 p.m.
More CineVegas
Complete coverage of CineVegas 2009
Film reviews

This expansion of a onetime student film (shot in ultra-indie 16mm, no less) may try to pass itself off as feel-good mainstream fare, but Etienne! is an angsty indulgence made by and for a very specific demographic. As such it maintains an apathetic demeanor about just how quirky or funny it is ultimately perceived, while underneath it’s desperately yearning to achieve the next milestone in both. Instead of reaching either mark, the entire atmosphere just serves as a compromising distraction. Even an initially promising side story of a jilted co-ed fails to gain traction and further weighs down the already sluggish and anemic plot.

There are some notable points made about the nature of unconditional love and the right of animals and humans alike to experience freedom to the fullest. But hearing them from the slack mouths of these moping goofuses, you’d be more inclined to slap them than take the words to heart.

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