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Thunder Road review – clueless cop rages at the world

There’s plenty of Office-style, cringe-worthy humour in Jim Cummings’ comedy, but it’s hard to care about his hapless hero

A southern cop goes excruciatingly and hilariously off-script giving the eulogy at his mother’s funeral in the opening scene of actor-writer-director Jim Cummings’ offbeat indie comedy. Standing in front of the coffin in his police uniform, gulping back big showy tears, he speaks briefly about his mom’s kindness before rambling on about himself. Finally, he launches into an interpretive dance accompanying her favourite Bruce Springsteen song, Thunder Road – except the boombox isn’t working, so he gives audio commentary as he lets rip with the abandon of a four-year-old performing Let It Go from Frozen.

The film, adapted from a short Cummings made in 2015, has won plenty of praise, and it hits the cringe-worthy highs of The Office in scenes like this. But I couldn’t buy into the affection for its self-involved hero.

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from Culture | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2KaYbPG
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