Electric Apricot (2006)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Les Claypool

Writer:

Les Claypool (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Electric Apricot is a spoof of jam bands centered around the band, Electric Apricot, in the style of "This Is Spinal Tap"...

Plot Keywords:

Band | Mockumentary | Friendship | Drummer | Recording Studio

Cast

Dian Bachar	...	Stacey "Skip" Holmes
Arj Barker	...	The Cube
Lawrence Brooke	...	Narrator (voice)
Les Claypool	...	Lapland 'Lapdog' Miclovich
Oz Fritz	...	Oz George
Adam Gates	...	Steve "Aiwass" Trouzdale
Mike Gordon	...	Himself
Seth Green	...	Jonah "the taper"
Warren Haynes	...	Himself
Fred Heim	...	Officer McFlounce
Sirena Irwin	...	The Photographer
Bryan Kehoe	...	Steve "Gordo" Gordon
Brian Kite	...	Dr. Brian "Bucky" Lefkowitz
Jonathan Korty	...	Herschel Tambor Brilstein
Gabby LaLa	...	Mei Pang
Sam Maccarone	...	Billy Bob the Bartender
Kyle McCulloch	...	Drew Shackleford
Jason McHugh	...	'Smilin' Don Kleinfeld
Slawek Michalak	...	Hydro Salesmen
Matthew J. Powers	...	Davis Mindelhof
Matt Stone	...	Taper guy
Jason Thompson	...	Jake the band Tech
Derek Walls	...	Duck the Band Tech
Bob Weir	...	Himself

Also Known As:

National Lampoon Presents Electric Apricot: Quest for Festeroo (USA) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content including references.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

National Lampoon Productions

Trivia:

The first poster for Festeroo actually features five bands Les Claypool has played with. Oysterhead, Les Claypool's Frog Brigade, Sausage, The Holy Mackeral, and C2B3 (Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie's Brains).

Movie Connections:

References "The Cosby Show" (1984)

Are you going to Burning Man?

Like probably everyone else who ends up seeing this flick, I'm also a pretty big fan of Les. But mostly for his Primus work and his unique personality. I never knew he had a knack for making movies, and low and behold he dishes out Electric Apricot.

Electric Apricot is mockumentary on a jam band whose goal is to make an album and to just get big. To get big their manager wants them to play the Jam festival, Festeroo. I still don't know if it's a fictitious festival or not. Anywho, this is basically the story.

Electric Apricot is a good movie, but for this guy, it didn't really do much. I tend to notice the bad before the good, which is good and bad, but there was a surprisingly tedious, especially during the beginning. I was also disappointed with almost all the beginning cameos. The ones with Seth Green, Matt Stone and that dude from Flight of the Conchords. They all oozed, "We're acting." and I just didn't find it funny. The laugh at my funny-cube-dance bit.....gimme a break. And for the first half of the film I wasn't digging the band members either. Surprisingly, the best actor out of everyone involved was, of course, the most talented person in the film, Les. His acting was neurotic and funny. I won't completely say I disliked the acting by the band, because by the end I was into all the characters and I was enjoying the movie for what it was, a movie about a band with no limits, no fear and no clue. Which is exactly how this movie played out.

Oh, and a shout out to Choda Boy (Orgazmo anyone?). He was by far the most entertaining actor in the film. His scene when he gets in his car, was also the funniest part of the film.

Like I said above, I kinda thought the movie was boring at points. But it does hit a stride, and it wound up be pretty entertaining. And I didn't laugh but only about a handful of times, which kinda stinks. Electric Apricot should have a little cult-following behind it, and fanboys of Les, Jam fans and fans of Spinal Tap should probably get a nice kick out of it. Definitely a nice effort and overall achievement by first time director Les Claypool.