As a film critic who specializes in indie cinema, it's safe to say that I've seen my share of films that filmmakers have confidently labeled as "dark comedy" only to find myself thinking to myself "It really wasn't that dark." 

Writer/director Matt Nagin has managed to create a truly dark comedy short with Inside Job, a 38-minute weirdly wonderful flick that goes places you don't expect on its way to telling the tale of Josh Weinstein (Chris Cook), the new intern at BTC Getaways, whose presence seems ill-advised given that the last intern, one of Josh's friends, disappeared a few months earlier. Undeterred, Josh shows up and immediately begins to learn that life at BTC Getaways is even weirder than he could have possibly imagined as Mr. G (Nagin), the CEO, appears to be a raving lunatic, drug addict and insatiable womanizer whose employees, including Don (Craig Watson) and Dick (Harold L. Tarr), try and mostly fail to keep the ship steady. To make matters even worse, Mr. G's comely confidante Connie (Inga Leps), only wants to seduce Josh. 

Having picked up the prize for Best Short at Mediterranean Film Festival Cannes 2016, Inside Job is set for a screening at next weekend's Hoboken International Film Festival in, you guessed it, Hoboken, New Jersey where it will have its U.S. debut.

Inside Job has been described by one film writer as "Wolf of Wall Street" on crack," a fair if somewhat dramatized comparison given Nagin's relentless devotion to pushing boundaries and going deeper and deeper into the lunacy and outrageousness that is the contemporary corporate world. Prior to a certain political election season, I'm not naming names, it may have been hard to picture a CEO along the lines of a Mr. G. These days? It doesn't really seem like that much of a stretch.

Nagin has assembled a quality ensemble cast here, though it's fair to say that keeping up with Nagin's own over-the-top antics proves to be pretty much impossible. Chris Cook, who recently appeared in the indie comedy We Are the Hartmans, struck me as a lot like Mark Linn-Baker from the not as dark but just as sharp My Favorite Year.  Production quality is solid throughout the film with special kudos going to D.P. Falk Mattern for lensing that is as off-kilter as the action itself and composer Erica Wong Ping Lun for original music that helps set the film's frenzied pace. 

It is to the credit of Nagin and his cast and crew that Inside Job doesn't give everything away until it's time to do so, a journey that is unpredictable, fun and increasingly outrageous. For more information on the film, visit its official website linked to in the credits to the left of this review. 

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic