In fairness, I should admit up front that this review of Stingray Sam, Cory McAbee's musical space serial will be slight, slighter even than the premise upon which he hangs swinging tunes and improbable set pieces. But! It is playing at Rooftop Films Saturday night, and I encourage all of you New York types to go. It will make you happy.
How do I know? Well, Stingray Sam was that last film I saw at IFFB and the second that day from the Brattle balcony, this time with friends I bumped into outside. So I ditched the critical apparatus and settled in to be entertained. Lemme tell ya, it was a perfect lagniappe. [Watch the trailer and see for yourself.]
Basically, Stingray Sam, shot in black and white and allegedly sponsored by "Liberty Chew Chewing Tobacco," is set in a dystopian future [its history recounted in episode 2, "The Forbidden Chromosome," using really splendid clip art] in which entire planets have been turned into prisons. Our titular hero [McAbee, director of The American Astronaut] teams with fellow former felon the Quasar Kid [weakness: olives] and together they have adventures, don disguises, try to thwart the evil Fredward, and save the girl. Did I mention their tendency to break into musical numbers in unlikely locations, like the Institute of Science and Trivia? Silly, yes, but so satisfying.
Oh, and David Hyde Pierce narrates, using his best Edward Everett Horton delivery.
McAbee explained during the Q&A that the series was designed with mobile phones in mind, but I encourage you to big-screen binge on it all at once. It'll be like a lazy Sunday squandered on the sofa watching some insipid tv show marathon, only with other people around to laugh with you at the hackneyed gags and sing along to the incessantly catchy theme song.
