Supercon

There are a few laughs in Supercon, but they're far between. The entire enterprise sags badly -- the movie is only 100 minutes long, but 90 much tighter minutes might have served it better. The premise has promise; Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky proved that a sticky tape-and-glue version of his own Ocean's Eleven could be plenty amusing. And anyone who's ever been to a comic convention knows how rich with characters and situations that environment is. Yet Supercon does disappointingly little with its most precious resource -- the fans at the convention. And it relies on relentless repetitions of "f--k" in place of funnier, more surprising language. It is nice to see Kwanten in this rough-and-tumble cool guy role. And Grace is good in everything (interestingly, both she and Kwanten appeared in Hurricane Heist earlier in 2018), and Brown looks like he's having fun twirling his imaginary mustache. But Epps feels wasted, and Malkovich materializes out of nowhere and can't conjure a character from what little he's given.

Supercon has its moments -- like the crew using the convention center's gym as their headquarters because it's the most deserted place at a comic-con. And occasional visual gags work out, such as a cluster of lights going on around Kwanten's head as he gets an idea. Perhaps the highest and weirdest praise the film earns is that the following exchange makes sense in context: "Time for you to grow some great, big, hairy, Harry Potter balls." "With or without cancer?" But beyond that, the film simply doesn't explore its fertile situational ground enough, dig deeply enough for better dialogue, or tighten its screws enough to keep audiences interested.