Obtuse Todd

MOVIE #1,545 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 04.15.24 MovieJeff on Motern: A FARLEY/ROXBURGH DIRECTOR FOCUS The circuitous route this takes is so inspiring. And yet still you’re bound to walk away from Obtuse Todd thinking, you know, this guy Todd really is obtuse. Webster’s dictionary defines obtuse, in part, as “lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility or intellect, insensitive, stupid, or difficult to comprehend, not clear or precise in thought or expression.” Yup, that’s our Todd. This is an interesting turn in the Farley/Roxburgh filmography. Coming off the heels of their Druids saga extended cinematic universe (DSECU), it’s the first film that was neither co-written OR directed by Charles Roxburgh. So this is The Matt Farley Show and, for now at least, the movie is better for it.

Leaving the fictional Thomasville behind for the very real Manchester, the action is fittingly more grounded. The only surreality here is found in the bizarre way these humans operate within their day-to-day. This is, in other words, pure cinema…

All kidding aside, when I wrote, “the circuitous route this takes is so inspiring” I meant that sincerely. As a ‘creative person’ myself, I often find difficulty in establishing or adhering to preconceived notions of what art should be. In the case of narrative storytelling, these conventions can feel confining if not downright suffocating. I love how willing Farley is to walk through a door that’s only open a crack, to follow a whim out into the wilderness. Sure, it helps to work in these arenas when your characters are naive blank slates if not full-on amnesiacs, but there’s still something beautiful in seeing it executed.

This was my favorite Motern movie yet and I wasn’t expecting it. Unshockingly, it was also the one to feature the best and most notable Kevin McGee role yet, with a special focus on his oeuvre as a singer-songwriter. While I think his work as an actor stands for itself, his musical inclinations feel like an extension of the Farley machine. To get a peek inside this process (and have it so neatly tied into the plot of the film) was really nice.

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Obtuse Todd is a bizarre, off-putting comedy filled with twists and turns. Farley directs the film and also stars as the part-time musician, Todd Harding, who finds his life spiraling out of control when he starts receiving strange phone calls from a precocious young girl. Before long, he's juggling his time between the girl's overprotective father, a lovely co-worker and mysterious visitors looking for "stops." It was released on May 3, 2006.