Andy Somebody

Even though they have been a winning team recently (having finally won the World Series again in 2016), the Chicago Cubs have such a glorious history of losing, it makes sense that a luckless schlub like Andy Fielder would be a fan. He has always been bullied by his boss, Dr. Peter Shifflett, a crooked plastic surgeon, running an illegal prescription drug operation on the side. However, Fielder’s dodgy bookkeeping for Shifflett means he can make a lot of trouble for his boss when he has finally had enough, like running away with all his money. It is not a well-thought-out plan, but it might still work with a little help from his new friends in Jesse David Ing’s Andy Somebody, which releases today on VOD.

Technically, the lazy cops staking out Shifflett were only interested in the bad doctor, so they ignored Fielder when he made a run for it. Shifflett and his enforcer Gene (as the cops say: “no last name, weird”) unreasonably demands he complete a series of complex financial transactions immediately if not sooner, so he cleared out the doctor’s accounts and his safe instead.

Gene tracks Fielder to LA and his friend Joy Lee by tracking the bookkeeper’s cell phone, but he starts getting smarter about evasive strategy once his old acquaintance starts advising him. He also makes a key ally (and new friend) in Andres, the very large Cuban working as a janitor in Fielder’s cut-rate Western-themed motel.

Ing and co-writer-lead Jeremy M. Evans mostly play the gangster business for laughs, but they never let the tone get too shticky. Nobody would call Andy Somebody realistic, but it never gets too silly or too ridiculous. Compared to the embarrassing Mafia Mamma, Andy Somebody almost looks like the second coming of Pulp Fiction (it isn’t, not even close, but it benefits from releasing in such close proximity to that dire mafia “comedy”).

Evans and his co-stars definitely keep things snappy. He makes a convincing sad sack, but not at the expense of audience sympathy or patience. Co-producer Leslie Wong is almost as neurotic, but in a lower-key kind of way. Franko Marcano is hulking and taciturn as Andres, but he still has an interesting screen presence. Jonathan Buckley and Jacob Bruce both ham it up relentlessly as the villainous Shifflett and Gene, mostly to an amusing degree. However, the pot-smoking loser cops are a corny mistake.

Despite the menace Fielder endures, Andy Somebody is refreshingly upbeat. The jokes do not land consistently, but it bops along nicely. Recommended as a pleasant diversion, Andy Somebody releases today (4/18) on VOD.