The Big Break (2018) watch online HD

Cake and eat it, this one. The film focuses on the LA acting scene, and plays out a breaking point for a writer/producer who becomes overwhelmed with the knowledge that he is faking it and surrounded by people faking it the same way. This leads to murder, as it does, and him and a friend go on the run from the police.

This short is based in a barbed, cynical dislike for the LA scene, and for the first half it gets its digs in as it shows the main character losing it over simple things. This is nicely sharp but yet not destructively so. On first watch I wanted it to go harder on this, but actually it gets the balance just right, because the second half embraces the clichés and excesses, producing an action movie that delivers all the tropes of the genre while also sending them up. As a result it loses some sharpness in the comedy, but is still enjoyably excessive in what it then does. It also feels a little self-indulgent, but the comedy and edge help it carry that off and produce an enjoyable enough short film.