‘SLICE’ Review

Picture this: you’re a first time writer/director and you pitch this awesome, tight, six-episode series to an acclaimed, bold indie production company! It’s got ghosts and witches and a werewolf in a complex power struggle, loaded full of quirky characters! They buy it, AND they’ll give you total creative freedom! You build up a shooting schedule, you start filming for a month, and then — WHAM — they pull the cord. Ran out of money, they say. You have the rest of the day to wrap up, and then you and the producers will try to edit together what you’ve shot into a movie instead. Also, you didn’t shoot any of the pilot, so you’ll have to spend your own money to shoot an expository intro. Note that this is NOT, to my knowledge, what happened with Austin Vesely’s Slice…but that’s exactly what it feels like.

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In a strange, small town in middle America, a string of murdered pizza delivery drivers is uncovered by local paper reporter Sadie (Rae Gray) to be eerily reminiscent of a string of murdered Chinese food delivery drivers from years past. This is not a normal town, mind you. The pizza place and the Chinese place were located in the exact same spot, in the exact same mini-mall, which was built on top of a sanitarium where 40,000 people died. Those ghosts — yes, there are ghosts — were sanctioned off by the mayor (Chris Parnell) to a portion of the town so that the vast lot of said sanitarium could be developed and built upon. A group of protesters led by Vera (Marilyn Dodds Frank), for those 40,000 lost souls, want the pizza place shut down in light of the murders, but owner Jack (Paul Scheer) isn’t budging. His employee Astrid (Zazie Beetz) has resurfaced in order to find out who’s killing her friends, while a pair of cops named Mike (Tim Decker) and Bradley (Will Brill) chase down their number one suspect, Dax Lycander (Chance Bennett, aka Chance the Rapper), who happens to be a werewolf over 100 years old who was the sole survivor of the Chinese restaurant.

If this seems like a lengthy summary…it obviously is, but it’s about the only way to properly understand the grand scheme of Vesely’s script. This thing is all over the fucking place. There are characters who are barely even seen and aren’t in any way developed. We take time jumps that don’t make any sense. We cut from scene to scene without any explanation or sense of purpose. In this 83 minute journey, we’re dropped into a world that is vastly more interesting in setting and scope than in actual execution. Visually things occasionally get interesting, but there’s no sense of flow to the movie that make the visuals come together to create at least a strong, pleasing composition. The finale should be this awesome culmination, but it’s cut together so poorly (not enough coverage, probably) and the effects are so cheap that it ends up being unintentionally humorous.

Here’s the thing, though…the movie is often genuinely funny. There’s a great sense of humor and a dynamic set of comedically gifted actors, especially Paul Scheer. Rae Gray’s reporter character absolutely gave me Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane vibes, which I was a big fan of. The other great addition to the cast is, though vastly underused. Chance Bennett. His acting skills and comedic timing are really, really solid, and his role is in the grand scheme rather thankless. It’s a shame, but works as a good preview of a rapper who is also gifted with acting skills, and should have a very strong career. SO, see it for Paul and Chance! Rae! Zazie, even! There’s a handful of things to like about the movie! It just doesn’t come together to make the experience memorable in a good way. There’s so much missing in this missed opportunity. Also…this would have made a great TV series.

Slice is available today on VOD and on-demand services!