Lansdown
Tom Zuber makes his film debut with the low-budget crime comedy Lansdown, which seems to be inspired by the work of the Coen brothers (especially Fargo). Uptight New Jersey lawyer Jake Jorgenson (Paul Shields) has hired the shifty Gusaf (D.W. Warren) to spy on his sexy wife Lexi (Jennifer Carlson). After he finds out that his wife has been sleeping with building tradesman Pat (Chris Stewart), he hires Jamaican hit man Gendhi (Patrick Louis) to take care of things. Gendhi hires two dim-witted brothers, Hector (Chris Baran) and Benny (Marc Krinsky), to assist him with the killing. The crime goes awry when Pat shows up late for work and his boss, Carmine (John Mead), steps in at the wrong time. Conclusion involves several mix-ups as the bumbling criminals try to make good on the deal, resulting in more than one accidental death.
Director: Tom Zuber
Starring: John Meadows, Paul Shields, Richard Kohn, Christopher Stewart
Recycles familiar ideas, with just enough droll wit to score as a nifty normal-folk-doing-stupid-deadly-things comedy a la "Fargo."
Though there's a thin noir line between lust and hate, Lansdown delivers nothing to stir the passions of filmgoers one way or the other.
Tom Zuber
Cinequest San Jose Film Festival (2001)
D.W. Warren
Method Fest (2001)
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