RUN ROBOT RUN

STARRING: Chris Gibbs, Lara Kelley, Peter Mooney, Christian Potenza

2006, 82 Minutes, Directed by Daniel O'Connor

A low-budget sci-fi romantic comedy which has been doing the rounds at film festivals in the States, Run Robot Run is a pleasant way to spend 80 minutes of one’s time. Sure, the movie has “sophomore” written all over it and the screenplay suffers from some serious missteps, but when it comes to the world of cheapo indies Run Robot Run stands shoulders above many of its compatriots.

Ken Weston (Chris Gibbs), an anal — by his own admission — office employee, is demoted at his corporate job and replaced by a very human-looking robot. This is unfortunate because not only is Kent’s new non-human co-worker a better worker, but is also better looking and attracts the attention of a fellow female employee our hapless hero had his eye on. And to tell the truth actually more, well, human than Kent. So Kent does what any one of us would do, namely plot revenge on the robot.

Along the way we get some set-ups for a few decent gags, some stiff acting, not bad digital photography and a clever use of existing locations and resources to replicate a credible yet cold and sterile future. The screenplay needed another pass at it though: some plot points towards the end (which I can’t reveal here) are a cheap cop-out.

Still, not a bad effort at and some indie distributor like Lion’s Gate should do the right thing and pick up the DVD distribution rights and director Daniel O’Connor should start cracking on his next project. Besides, how bad can any movie be that homages Woody Allen’s Sleeper (see photograph)?