SXSW Review: ‘ExTerminators’

Not exactly the most refined or professional of films about not so refined nor professional of ladies, ‘ExTerminators’ is a low-budget comedy that, despite having moments here and there of decent comedy, falls flat most of the way.   It has the cast.   Heather Graham, Jennifer Coolidge, Amber Heard, and Joey Lauren Adams are all decent actresses in their own rights.   It has the locations.   The film uses Austin and the surrounding locations to the best of its abilities.   However, without much of a screenwriter or a director who can pull off some nice visuals, there really isn’t much that can be done.

The screenplay is original enough.   Graham plays Alex, a woman who, after losing her accounting job and finding her husband cheating on her, goes off the deep end.   She ends up punching out a shopper who snipes her on a dress.   She is sent to anger management therapy where she meets Stella (Coolidge), a pest control company owner, Nikki (Heard), and Kim (Adams).   Plot details aside, the group of women slowly form a bond of friendship, then they start knocking off abusive, obnoxious, and all-around jerky husbands.

‘ExTerminators’ is a dark comedy in the truest sense.   Life is cheap, and the women in this film cash lives out like winning lottery tickets.   There’s nothing wrong with any of this.   There are great dark comedies out there.   Just look at a classic such as ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ or ‘Harold and Maude’ to find excellent examples of great, funny comedies about death.   Dark comedies work wonderfully with decent acting, a fine director, and some nicely times twists or original details.   Unfortunately, none of that is found in ‘ExTerminators’, a film that feels like a plastic water bottle compared to the steel drum of filmmaking that made up those other films.

So many of the film’s would-be funnier moments are so staged and chintzy, you can’t help from noticing them coming from way down the road.   Many of the predicaments the women get themselves into seem completely avoidable and easily resolved, especially when you consider these women have been poisoning and murdering people for the last few months.

There are certain aspects that just cry out unoriginality.   Alex’s character is one that has been mocked and spoofed for years now.   She stars wearing thick glasses and wearing her hair up in the ponytail.   Halfway through the film, she put in contacts, lets her hair down, and smacks on the makeup, and, instantly, she’s a whole new woman that has men’s heads turning left and right.   Come one, people.   At last do something original and exciting with that idea.

The film isn’t all bad.   There are a few surprises here and there.   The film bookends with Alex confessing everything she and the women did to a video recorder, and you really don’t know how the story is leading up to that until it actually happens.   Coolidge is really the one, shining example amongst the cast.   She really puts her heart into playing Stella, and her performance gives Stella an edge that the character needs and deserves.

Sam Lloyd’s performance as an IRS agent who discovers the women’s antics is particularly funny.   He mutters lines of dialogue under his breath, giving the character an air of uncertainty, strong enough to know what he wants but not mman enough to do anything about it.   His character is actually in the film much more than he probably should be, but it’s a welcomed surprise.

Cheap and overly staged, ‘ExTerminators’ is a dark comedy that provides all the dark, not a whole lot of comedy.   There are transitory moments, moments that really show there was some promise hiding underneath all the fakery.   These moments, however, are clearly not enough to save a film that was probably unexciting and flat from the premise stage.

Overall: 2 stars out of 5