This quirky Kiwi comedy comes with the heavy burden of comparisons to Jared Hess' Napoleon Dynamite. A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, Eagle Vs. Shark tells the story of unconventional romance between two misfits.
As a regular patron of Meaty Boy, a hideously depressing fast food restaurant, store clerk Jarrod (Jermaine Clement) catches the eye of dour burger-flipper Lily (Loren Horsley). Fired from her job, Lily plucks up the courage to attend Jarrod's fancy dress party, as the eponymous Shark to Jarrod's Eagle. Newly bonded, through Lily's video game prowess and some perfunctory love making, Jarrod shares his intent to return to his hometown and face his high school nemesis.
Eagle Vs. Shark's was inspired by the film's female lead, Loren Horsley, and the awkwardness she faced growing up as a teenager. It's no surprise then that the character of Lily is the film's most rounded, and sympathetic, in a film deluged with characters that you're more likely to laugh at, than with.
The supporting cast, particularly Jarrod's family who continually chip at his attempts for recognition over his dead brother (the apple of his father's eye). The film's script gets a little too bogged down in contrived quirkiness, but it still manages to raise the occasional smile.
Whilst first-time Writer/Director Taika Waititi knows how to fill the screen with dysfunctional characters, he fails to make Jarrod and Lily's relationship convincing. It's hard to understand why sweet-natured Lily would fall for someone as self-obsessed and misogynistic as Jarrod. Their relationship is the very heart of the movie, but heart is what Eagle Vs. Shark lacks and ultimately their relationship, like the film, is less than dynamite.
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