Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas (2006)

When his journal of bright ideas is stolen, college freshman Bickford Schmeckler (Fugit) has to blanket the campus in order to locate it.Boring slow movie.You won't care one bit about anyone in the film.And you'll care less about the story.The only good thing is that it's only a hour and 15 minutes.But the other side of that is it feels like 10 hours.It's moronic and idiotic.In short, it's a monumental fail.Sort of like boiled meat.

Pot smoking is seen all through the film Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas and based on the generally pointless, rambling, and dull quality of the film it would seem that all the bongs and pot weren't set props but were equipment used to make the film.The storyline had to be conceived while stoned, that's if it was actually fully conceived before the film began shooting. It seems just as likely that shooting began and the story was made up one bong hit at a time.The gist of the story is that Bickford Shmeckler wrote a "book" which is so full of astounding concepts about life, the universe, and everything that it changes the lives of almost anyone who reads it. (Only the barest hint of these "cool ideas" are ever actually revealed to the audience.) Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas isn't really sure of what sort of film it's supposed to be. At times it seems it's a moronic party comedy, at times it tries to be serious. But whatever it tries it fails on all accounts.The characters are flat and lifeless, which doesn't seem to be the fault of the actors, it definitely feels like bad writing and direction.The attempts at humor (which include a scene where a handful of gay slurs are shared, one sight gag with a person in a wheelchair, and a mentally ill character included for the sake of zaniness) also fail. That includes the terrible idea to name the title character Bickford Shmeckler. (I laughed once during the film, 34 minutes into it. Shortly after that the only thing visually interesting in the film happens when...SPOILER ALERT...Bickford suddenly stabs a meat fork into a cantaloupe. It was also the film's only genuine moment.) What makes this film worth disliking is that there was a chance to explore some interesting ideas here such as people embracing pop theology/ideology in a manner that's just as mindless as their lives before exposure to the new ideas. Or people wanting to embrace trinkets such as hats and t-shirts as an expression of their beliefs. Or the discovery of a writer who doesn't want to be discovered and who definitely doesn't want to be the leader of some new quasi-religion based on his writing. In fact Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas so completely misses making a point (or even telling an interesting story) that this "story" could be turned into an entirely different, much better film.

I loved this movie. Although my opinion is biased on the fact that I adore Patrick Fugit and would be pleased with anything he was cast in. I was greatly impressed by Olivia Wilde's performance on the big screen, as I had only seen her on a few episodes of The O.C. I found the theories in 'The Book' itself to be 'brain-gasmic' and quite thoughtful. Surly something I, myself, would have wanted to read if there were such a book published.I gave the movie and overall 8 because, although I was excited to see Patrick, the plot was slow and I wasn't quite satisfied with the ending of the film.

Just spent the last 4 days at SXSW-Austin. Caught "Bickford Schmeckler Cool Ideas" and have picked it as my favorite. I can't think of any aspect of the film I had issue with. I loved Matthew Lillard as "Spaceman". Patrick Fugit was very believable and so funny. Olivia Wilde was fantastic, can't wait to see her in "Running with Scissors". The gags worked, the dialog was hilarious, the acting was great, editing was great – like I said I really can't list anything I didn't like.This was the only film I viewed in which no one left during the screening. I can't wait to be able to see it again. If you want a fun movie that'll make you laugh you must see this film. Let's hope for national distribution!