On Demand Weekly

On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: AMERICAN COWSLIP.
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AMERICAN COWSLIP is subtitled “A Redneck Comedy” but not in the Jeff Foxworthy sense. Sure, you’ll get the ubiquitous car parked on the front lawn, but this is not a formulaic we’re-poor-and-unsophisticated-but-still-happy kind of movie.

Instead, AMERICAN COWSLIP attempts to answer the question, What would happen if Eric Stoltz and the dude who played Waingro in HEAT had a baby and that baby grew up to be a heroin addict, doted on by three grannies and shamelessly pursued by a 17-year old hottie? And what would happen if we put our heroin hero between two speeding meteors on a collision course: being evicted from his home into an agoraphobic nightmare or winning the “Garden of the Year” contest, thus saving his house, sanity and baggie of horse? Yes, what would happen indeed.

Enter Ethan in a blue tuxedo with ruffled shirt that he’s been wearing 24-7 for a month. His hair is a long stringy mass of Portuguese man o’ war. In his hand, a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. He’s been using since his sister died in a freak parachuting accident on his birthday. When questioned whether this actually happened, with conviction he responds, “Maybe.”

His street is a soulless row of ranch houses where everything is painted in a color palette so bright and tired that you’d expect Edward Scissorhands to pop out of a topiary and start grooming poodles. The Necco Wafer motif is only broken up by the black-clothed angel of death masquerading as the local paperboy who is happy to get in your grill, sell you some heroin or cry like a girl when baby falls down.

In the beginning Ethan plants the eponymous cowslip in his front lawn as his garden’s showpiece. One can only mindlessly speculate if the tiny plant will serve as a metaphor for Ethan himself, who perhaps is stuck in the ground now but will soon be reaching for the sky and freedom in the end. What will happen to the flower? Will Ethan win “Garden of the Year” before he’s evicted?

Will there be a drugged out scene with a fisheye lens that flashes back to when you ate mushrooms before watching FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS? Hey if that mac ‘n’ cheese is sitting in the microwave but seems kinda cold, does that mean that you forgot to turn it on or that you got so high that you forgot to eat it three hours ago? It’s this type of suspense that will keep you guessing at every turn. Plus the frequent Jesus allusions will make you ask one question: Why?

Quick fact: doing a lot of H makes the, er, pooping stop. You’ll have many, many laughs at the veiled (and not so veiled!) references to this brutal consequence of addiction. Oh sorry, I meant to say that if you’re an aimless heroin addict in your early thirties, a 17-year old blonde will throw herself in your lap because she wants to take care of you and your, you know, heroin addiction. Jeeze, I did it again. I keep forgetting I’m writing about the fanciful musings of a lighthearted comedy remake of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM.

You may be busy enjoying your own recreational pursuits while watching AMERICAN COWSLIP, but don’t miss the great “insulin” score by Diane Ladd and the ice cold dress downs by the underused Bruce Dern. Also starring Cloris Leachman, an unhinged Rip Torn and Peter Falk as Mel Brooks as an exorcising priest.

-- Carol Canfield

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Carol Canfield is a contributing writer for On Demand Weekly.

AMERICAN COWSLIP Now Available On Demand Until 10/14/10
Rated R / Running Time 107 min