Parents' Guide to Micro Budget

Fans of cringe comedy will probably enjoy this ode to independent filmmaking, but others will find main character Terry endlessly aggravating and the jokes more gobsmacking than funny. There's a sense of meanness at the center of Micro Budget as Terry lies about money, treats others badly, and stoops to a few underhanded acts. He's a typical "cringe" character: a toxic combination of social awkwardness, annoying arrogance, and aggressive stupidity. He insists on shooting the movie in sequence, despite the crew carefully explaining how things are supposed to work, and he falls five hours behind schedule on the first day. (Additionally, he's somehow never heard of either Taxi Driver or Hamlet.)

The scene in which Terry tries, badly, to explain his diversity casting is borderline offensive, but perhaps most heinous is the way he treats his wife, Erica. She plays a small part in the movie, and he makes her wear an old-fashioned, neck-to-toe house dress, which looks ridiculous. ("Isn't that what all pregnant people wear?" Terry says.) He takes her for granted, making her cook and clean while he openly flirts with Jenny. (He's also embarrassingly unaware that Jenny has started her own affair with co-star Gary.) It's all more squirm-inducing than amusing. Attempts at jokes about product placement and a male intimacy coordinator are likewise broad and obvious. Viewers who are into cringe might get a kick out of Micro Budget, but for others, it will depend on how much you can tolerate a truly intolerable character.