Florida's Film, Television and the Arts Magazine
Bunny - Movie Review by Lisa Blanck
If I told you, “this is a film about a New York City hustler”, you’ll probably think of Midnight Cowboy. However, all the film Bunny has in common with that Schlesinger classic are these two things: the setting IS a gritty NYC and the lead IS a male hustler. However, Bunny takes place in the NYC of the present, not the late 1960’s. It's completely original, non-judgmental and fabulously funny.
Written by Mo Stark, Ben Jacobson and Stefan Marolachakis, all the action happens over approximately 24-hours. The setting is an East Village tenement populated by eccentrics. I was reminded of the Marx Brothers films, where you never know what’s going to happen in the next 15 minutes, but you know you’ll be laughing. The dialogue is snappy and the film is populated by recognizable faces including Henry Czerny as a Rabbi.
Chaos rains down upon Bunny (Mo Stark) who is just trying to make it through the day and celebrate his birthday with his girlfriend Bobbie (Liza Colby) and his friends. Unfortunately, a dead body is literally thrown into the party mix. The large corpse will need to be disposed of, and quickly. The landlord has complained to the NYPD about a bad smell coming from a unit, which she believes are dead rats. Two officers (Ajay Naidu and Liz Caribel Sierra) arrive to check out the complaint and become curious about the bizarre comings and goings from the building. They’re suspicious and sarcastic and so very NYPD.
Bunny not only hustles his body for cash, but he’s also an Air BnB host of a sort, so he’s hustling to get his units rented. Many times people he meets say and do the most outlandish things. However, watching Stark just take in in, pause, accept the crazy and move on is hilarious. His character is very clean, likeable, extremely organized, earnest and helpful to everyone he meets, to a fault. He knows some of the decisions he makes are not in his own best interest, but he’s really trying to be kind while avoiding a possible murder rap. His character even knows what tulle is, which, even though it’s just a passing line in the script, I found to be extremely funny.
The film is gritty, charming, playful and deserves to reach an audience. Director Ben Jacobson manages to hold onto all these runaway horses, but without a heavy hand on the reins, allowing each actor to forge their own comedic path forward in every scene.
Bunny is currently streaming digitally on Apple, iTunes, Amazon Prime, Fandango at Home, Google Play and Microsoft. Other providers include Comcast/Xfinity, DirectTV/AT&T Uverse, Cox, Charter/Spectrum/Time Warner, Dish, Verizon, Frontier and some smaller regional providers. If you’re hanging with friends for Thanksgiving and looking for something entertaining after you push away from the food, hop online and find Bunny.
