“Mulletville” is a movie that lives up to its moniker — this flick is definitely business up front and all party in the back.
Written and directed by Tony Leahy, who also stars as Dens, “Mulletville” is loaded with the hockey hair, but the movie is also about a kid tracing his roots and trying to exact revenge on his high school tormentors.
Leahy said his inspiration for “Mulletville” came out of nowhere.
“Actually, I was hit in the head with a teaspoon at Lalapalooza,” Leahy said. “But also, I thought the premise of someone returning to their hometown was interesting and had a lot of possibilities. But really the teaspoon was the largest motivation.”
The film begins with Dens and a production crew of students heading to his hometown to film a documentary for their film class. Dens, however, has ulterior motives. Having moved out of rural Washington to college in Seattle, Dens has transformed into a pretentious film student with a vision.
He returns to expose the idiocy of his cousin Bob and friends, who all sport varying degrees of the hairstyle of the gods. The beauty of Leahy’s vision is that we can relate to all of these people. I’m sure that when we visit home on spring break we all see our personal versions of Bob and friends who were the bomb in high school and are still stuck there, re-living the glory days.
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That is the beauty of the mullet — the hairstyle of the gods knows no boundaries.
Den’s return to his hometown coincides with Bob’s annual “Big Ass Bash.” Through expertly edited clips of before party footage and one-on-one interviews, we meet Bob and his friends.
Bob, whose coif is of the relief-pitcher mullet variety, lives with his girlfriend Jiffy, played by Cynthia Geary, in a trailer on the outskirts of town. Bob is basically an all right guy who lives to party and can’t keep a job.
It is Bob’s friends who really add depth to the happenings at the party. We meet Steve, the high school football star who can still pull chicks through his fleeting fame.
Unfortunately, Wayne, who bears a mini-mullet tail, is the last person on Earth females want to be around. Joe and Jeff, each donning impressive midwestern metal mullets, make up the band Industrial Park along with Bob.
Before the party, the group forces Dens into reliving the most humiliating experience of his life in front of his high school crush, Heather, an experience that leaves him with the moniker of “Pip-Streaker.” Dens then retreats to his van.
Enter Eazy-T, a classmate of Dens who has since become the local meth dealer. He learns the Pip-Streaker is in town and hooks him up with a free spot of meth. Chaos ensues.
As the Big Ass Bash rages and Industrial Park jams original tunes like “Porn Theme Song,” a tweaked-out Dens emerges from his van, camcorder in tow.
Bob and friends eventually accept Dens and he is given the ultimate initiation into trailer-trash manhood — yes, hair clippers are involved.
Leahy said that this pokes no specific fun at anyone.
“It’s not a commentary on anything,” he said. “It’s a comedy so everyone is a target. I try to divide the shots between the mullets and non-mullets.”
And it works. Everyone from skinheaded mulletphobes from San Francisco to nuclear Tennessee Top Hats from Oak Ridge can identify with this film.
“Mulletville” is playing at Madstone Theater at 6311 San Mateo Blvd.
