In 2013, screenwriter Marina Loos's feature-length comedy screenplay was named a semi-finalist in the Page International Screenwriting Awards. In an effort to take the screenplay to the next level, a feature-length production, Loos and director Kat Waller have teamed up to create Fatty, a 22-minute short film about two high school losers, Abby (Megan Harty) and Marty (Sarah Young), and one epic night. The film has already picked up a trio of awards including prizes from the Accolade Competition, Best Shorts Competition, and the Honolulu Film Awards.

The good news is that despite what may seem like a modest 2.5 - star review, Fatty is a promising short that already looks like it's a wannabe feature film. Waller has a solid sense of style and structure and it's easy to see where she's going with Loos's breezy and fun dialogue. While the way all of this unfolds within the confines of a 22-minute film at times feels manufactured and forced, both Harty and Young have a nice chemistry and I can easily picture myself enjoying watching their antics unfold over the course of a full-length feature film.

Eddie Jung's lensing is vibrant and amazingly pristine for a low-budget film, while Ted Short's sound mix also works quite nicely given the film's obvious financial constraints. An awful lot of critics, and filmmakers for that matter, will tell you it's an inevitable mixed bag when you try to put together an effective short film that's you're really wanting to use to create the ultimate vision of a feature-length film. Fatty never quite settles into the quirky, energetic vibe that one gets the sense Waller is really going for and would likely find given more time.

So, while Fatty isn't quite as fun as it ought to be it's promising enough that I look forward to seeing where Waller and Loos go from here. Watch for it at a festival near you!

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic