Nate (Jon Heder) isn't exactly the brightest young man, and he still lives with his mom (Amanda Bearse) and works at a dead end job, but he's got his heart in the right place - which his boss (Johnny Ray Meeks) picks up on, which is why he handpacks him to drive his son Oswalt (Sawyer Williams) home every day. Now unfortunately Oswalt has run afoul of three local bullies, the Tawater brothers (Chad Dukes, Aruek Flores, Jacob Tyler Kemp), and when Nate and his best friend Will (Jay Pichardo) help Oswalt out of a scrap with them and in the process run over their dog in self defense, the bullies get mad enough to call in their big brother Stoney (Billy Zane) from out of town to mix up Nate and Will and their nartial arts friends, twin brothers Glenn (George Psarras) and Ben (Paul Psarras), who are in turn all hired by Oswalt as his bodyguards. Now this is all tricky enough, but it's only complicated even more by the fact that Nate falls in love with the Tarwaters' sister Gretchen (Kim Matula), whose dog it actually was that he's run over, and he's way to honest not to confess this to her eventually. But with everything else going on, when is that right time?

Now stylistically this film is rooted in 1980s teen comedies as well as low level US-American martial arts cinema (think cheap Karate Kid knock-offs), but what sets Tapawingo apart from these movies is the humanity of its main characters, especially Nate, who isn't portrayed as your typical hero but a simpleton who dreams big with little to go on. As a result, and despite the film's at times slightly moronic humou, the film has lots of heart, and despite being a little over-long for its story, this is all in all a truly fun ride.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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