The storyline is simple. The Monkey Brothers get the chance to cast a commercial for Salsa Gusto, a tortilla chip dip, which will be directed by the terminally hip, video-game junky Elan (played by Marc Chiat). This is a coup for the up-and-coming Monkey Brothers, who have scored this casting job over their rivals, the Donkey Dudes. The Monkey Brothers have a rather unusual method of casting commercials (which I won’t give away here), and the film follows their travails to cast the commercial and please everyone with their “hip, edgy, sexy, cool” choices. In the time it takes to get there, they mock vocational colleges, local cable commercials featuring mariachis, every variety of bad actor possible, and runaway production in Canada. All in all, it’s more educational about the real workings of a commercial production that anything you’ll get at the DeVry Institute. Insider jokes abound (in the “cattle-call casting scene,” pay attention to what the actors are wearing) and what will be especially priceless for the cognescenti is the antics of two big-time commercial directors (Usher and Chiat) who obviously aren’t worried about scoring their next gig helming “short films.” Shot in Super16mm to get that special “mockumentary” feel, “Hip, Edgy, Sexy, Cool” is currently making the festival rounds in a video version, and has won Audience Award for Best Feature at NoDance Festival in Park City.
