Tribeca ’03: The Wannabes (review)

A terrifying attempt at a children's movie... or a horrible attempt at satire. It's hard to tell which -- either way, you should run in the other direction as fast as you can and never look back. Nick Giannopoulos is apparently the creator of "groundbreaking" live comedy in Australia, and here he makes his debut as a film director and cowriter. Unfortunately, he, of questionable appeal, also stars, leading a bunch of out-of-work losers who get rooked by a criminal doofus into impersonating children's entertainers. Don't ask why. Naturally, these crude, no-talent morons are, inexplicably, an enormous inadvertent hit. Most terrifying of all, anthropomorphic foam animal costumes are involved. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but this is one of the worst films I've ever seen.