Too Many Surprises: A Baffling Little Farce

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you have 20 minutes to kill and a weird obsession with early, low-budget slapstick. If you like your comedy smooth and well-written, you will absolutely hate this. It’s clunky, the dialogue feels like it was scribbled on a napkin during lunch, and the jealousy plot is thinner than the walls of the house they're showing.

But there’s something endearing about how frantic everyone acts. It’s not One Rainy Afternoon, that's for sure. It’s barely a movie at all, really. More like a recorded nervous breakdown in a living room.

Monte Collins is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. He has this wide-eyed, panicked expression that never seems to change, even when he’s hiding in a closet or getting yelled at by a stranger. I think I counted him looking confused at a piece of furniture three different times. Why? I don't know.

The whole thing feels like a stage play that got lost on its way to a real theater. The camera stays in one spot for way too long. It’s almost like the director just set it up and walked out for a coffee. ☕

There is a scene where one of the wives enters the room, and the way she pauses to make sure everyone sees her dress is just… something. It’s not good acting, but it’s definitely acting. You can tell they were trying to hit a specific rhythm, but they kept missing the beat.

• The wallpaper in the house is truly hideous.
• Nobody actually talks like these people.
• The doors are slammed at least twelve times.
• I think I saw a microphone shadow in the corner once.

Watching this made me think of Lightning Love in how it just rushes through the motions. You keep waiting for a punchline, but it just skips to the next loud argument. It’s not deep. It’s not smart. It just is.

Maybe skip it. Unless you really, really like real estate agents having a bad day. I kinda liked it, but I’m not sure I can explain why. Maybe it’s just the chaos of it all. Who knows.