THE VILLAGE VOICE
The Brooklyn Film Fest: Unchecked Movie Love Runs Recklessly In Every Direction
by MICHAEL ATKINSON
June 2, 2021
Matthew Lucas’ Kringle Time also stands out for not seeming to need our empathy at all — it’s a thoroughly seasoned low-comedy hoot, crammed with full-tilt comic pros crafting confident schtick with few fucks given, in a The Office kind of way. A public-access TV station’s Barney-like kiddie show star suddenly dies on camera, sending the production staff (and the unassuming but obsessed manager, played by Benny Elledge) into scramble mode, eventually discovering that the old alkie was a serial intern molester. All missteps and padded dream sequences are worth the perfs, particularly Alyssa Keegan as the hard-charging producer, Vernon Wells (Wez in The Road Warrior!) as the grizzled old perv, co-producer Gigi Edgley as the man’s boozy daughter, and ex-martial arts star Jeff Wincott as the teary memorial-haunted mayor. You shouldn’t let the slick timing and showbiz savviness ruin your good neighborhood-fest vibrations.