Leading up to its premiere at the Eccles Center in Park City on January 22, director Spencer Susser’s ‘Hesher’ was one of the most anticipated movies as this year’s Sundance Film Festival. But during the post-screening question and answer period, the audience’s reaction to the film was less than stellar, according to Indiewire.com.
Representatives from numerous studios, including Focus Features and Summit Entertainment, showed up to see what the hype was about. But the consensus among the movie-goers was the comedy was too dark, lewd and oversentimental, and overall, the film felt messy.
Though most of the dirty humor was delivered by Sundance favorite Joseph-Gordon Levitt, who played the title character of ‘Hesher,’ his performance garnered the most positive reaction and laughter from the audience. He also received a warm round of applause during the Q-and-A session.
Modestly, Gordon-Levitt attributed his performance to the script. “I read a lot of scripts, and most of them don’t make me feel much. This one, I was instantly up on my feet and wanted to try it. It’s really just a well-written character. I can’t say it has much to do with me, per se.” Susser quickly responded that that was a lie, and the audience seemed to agree.
Written by: Karen Benardello
