Film Threat Review (Four Stars)

By Stina Chyn

Not all singers are bad actors. Shawn Mullins, for instance, delivers an excellent performance in Stacey Childers’s film “Delivery Boy Chronicles,” a slap-stick comedy about food-delivery employees wishing to do something more meaningful with their lives. Like any good, comedic ensemble cast film, “Delivery Boy Chronicles” has a narrative anchor in one character and develops the others in a way that infuses the film with wit and purpose.

Mike (Ralph Price) and his friends Molly (Kelly Hobbs), Tig (Shawn Mullins), Magoo (Chet Dixon), and Shawn (Shawn Bost) work for Restaurant on Wheels, a food-delivery service. Mike, the narrative focal point, is waiting to unleash the businessman inside; Molly wants to better the world; Tig and Magoo are both exploring artistic _expression. Then there’s Shawn, the troupe’s bard, and Chris (Ray Stoney), who’s fresh out of college and has much to learn about the “real world.”

The characters’ individual goals intersect in a plotline that involves shrooms, Magoo’s sculpture artwork, His Holiness from Tibet, and a brief discussion as to whether or not forensics pathologists can prescribe pills. However random the visual and verbal humor might appear, it’s all there for a reason. The talking camel, the attacking ostriches, the assaulting bosom, and the lawn-chair cooler make you laugh until your stomach hurts, but they’re also very important to the plot. Without the talking camel (who later becomes a talking gorilla), Mike wouldn’t take more initiative in brainstorming for a lucrative business investment. There wouldn’t be the lawn-chair cooler, Molly wouldn’t discover Buddhism, and there wouldn’t be any mentioning of the Comprehensive Package, the most comprehensive of comprehensive packages.

Filmed on location in and around Atlanta, GA, “Delivery Boy Chronicles” is a zesty medley of odds-and-ends. The film’s comedic timing is excellent and includes the best exception to the notion that singers can’t act.


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K-State Collegian Review: Film does not depict realistic situations, still an enjoyable afternoon flick

Kansas State Collegian
By Matt Sandberg

The delivery boy is a prestigious profession in our society. I should know - my first job back in high school was delivering delicious Domino's pizza.

 In any case, an indie film about the lives of a bunch of delivery boys did not strike me as particularly entertaining. Fortunately, their hijinks turned out to be far more entertaining than mine were.

The "Delivery Boy Chronicles" center around a jaded, overweight, 30-something man named Mike (Ralph Price) and his fellow band of misfit, poorly-motivated delivery professionals. His friends in the movie are the same stereotypes Hollywood seems to think all fast-food restaurants consist of, including the fat Republican, the frizzy-haired, Napoleon Dynamite-esque weirdo, the liberal hippie feminist, the drugged-out conspiracy theorist and the "token black guy."

 Mike's typical day consists of rolling out of bed hung over at 2 p.m., going to a field out in the middle of nowhere to cultivate a secret crop of hallucinogenic mushrooms, getting attacked by a pack of wild ostriches, and then going to a job interview high on 'shrooms. I think we all can relate to that.

This movie has more than its fair share of random moments, including a man dressed in a camel costume who occasionally pops up in the movie to taunt the main characters. The main characters also break out into spontaneous song and dance numbers, with people in animal costumes and little people throwing glitter in the air.

Pretty standard stuff for delivery people, trust me.

Be warned: this movie has a lot of drug use. I counted about 26 scenes with a bong in this movie, and I wasn't even paying that much attention.

 I wondered why I enjoyed the "Delivery Boy Chronicles" so much, and then I realized that the movie reminds me a bit of "Waiting," the cult comedy hit with Ryan Reynolds and Dane Cook about the mundane lives of servers in those cheesy family restaurants. This movie has many of the same elements, and people who ever have worked in the food industry or as any type of delivery person certainly will appreciate the humor of this film.

This movie is not without its faults, however. The acting is questionable and wooden, and the editing reminds me of a student film - awkward camera angles and choppy editing.

I also would have felt more comfortable watching this movie if I recognized any of the actors.

Unfortunately, the only actor with any sort of career is Shawn Mullins, who plays Tig and is best known as the singer of "Lullaby" and "Shimmer."

Overall, if you overlook the less-than-slick production values and the lack of recognizable stars in this DVD, kicking back and watching this movie would certainly be a good way to spend an afternoon.

For more information on this film, visit www.deliveryboychronicles.com.

'Delivery Boy Chronicles'

Adam Testa/Verge Editor

Pounceonline.com

Most people think a performer should choose acting or singing and stick to it.

Grammy-nominated artist Shawn Mullins breaks this stereotype and gives a stunning performance in "Delivery Boy Chronicles."

"Chronicles" tells the story of a group of friends and co-workers who work as delivery drivers for a take-out taxi service called Restaurant on Wheels.

The focus of the movie is on each individual's dreams of breaking away from the monotony of the everyday job and to reach new goals and aspirations in life.

The members of the group are typical of movie casts. One wants to get into the real world, one is a complete stoner who appears to have no goals, one is a hippie and one is smart enough that he should not be with the rest of the group.

While the characters fill stereotypical roles, each actor manages to add life to their character.

Ralph Price plays Mike, the typical nice guy trying to make it on his own. While almost any actor could probably pull of this role, Price adds a sense of humility and a persona to the character that would be tough to match.

Mullins plays Tig, the stoner of the group who does not appear to want to go anywhere in life. Mullins becomes the king of the one-line jokes in this movie, and it would be safe to say that very few actors could make Tig the character Mullins did.

The other outstanding acting performance comes from Kelly Hobbs, who plays Molly, the hippie chick wanting to make a difference in the world.

All three of these actors demonstrated their ability to make a name for themselves in the acting profession.

Aside from the acting, "Chronicles" also had wonderful script writing and directing that adds to the movie's quality.

The storyline for this movie at first sounds lame. How exciting can a movie about delivery people be? Within the first five minutes of the film, audiences learn how funny and exciting it can be.

With subplots involving ostrich attacks, Joe Camel and hippies covered in mud, the story of the movie comes together nicely in the end.

And mixed in with all the storylines is a theme of how big business and the corporate world are horrible and ruin people's lives.

The attacks on the corporate world continue throughout the entire movie, but this particular message is best shown in one scene.

In this scene, a stoned Mike is preparing for a job interview when an imaginary man in a leprechaun suit visits him. The man begins to sing a song based off of the Oompa-Loompa song from Willy Wonka, and a chorus of little people who sing about becoming a wage slave.

These jabs at the corporate world, combined with the other situational comedy in the film make it one for most people to enjoy. Many people will probably even find they can relate to one or more of the characters and the problems.

"Delivery Boy Chronicles" is a movie to go into with an open mind. The creators of the movie obviously never meant for it to be taken on a completely serious level.

The movie is a simple movie created for entertainment purposes. The movie would probably appeal to fans of movies such as "Office Space" and "Detroit Rock City."

http://media.www.pounceonline.com/media/storage/paper746/news/2007/02/09/InReviews/delivery.Boy.Chronicles-2707324.shtml

Washington Square News (NYU) Delivery Boy Chronicles Review

Posted by Leigh on July 1, 2010 at 7:14 PM

comments (0)

Elivia Shaw

University Wire

(Washington Square News) (U-WIRE) NEW YORK -- Consider where you want to be in four or five years. Do you picture yourself graduating from NYU and interviewing for your dream job? Maybe traveling the world or on your way to graduate school? When thinking about the future almost all of us have some sort of plan or goal in mind.

Or not, according to Michael Childers, who wrote film "Delivery Boy Chronicles." Best described as a conspicuously low-budget mix between "Half Baked" and "Office Space," "Chronicles" reminds you not to waste your time drinking beer and sitting on your ass.

Like all of the other stoner/early-life-crisis movies that have preceded it, "Chronicles" presents you with your usual band of anti-establishment waste products. To start, there is Mike, the well-meaning anchor of the group played by the unknown Ralph Price, who tries to change even though his friends manage to thwart any of his attempts at success. In one scene, they drag him on a shroom hunt that ends in an attack by a herd of emus and a drug trip during a job interview at "Adam Smith Securities -- the invisible hand that cares."

The rest of the crew of Restaurant on Wheels, a food delivery service, includes Magoo, a failed artist whose current goal includes fixing the mousetrap from the board game "Mouse Trap;" Molly, a naive small-town girl who wants to fix the world; and last but certainly not least, Tig, the chain-smoking mess, fittingly played by Atlanta singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins.

"Delivery Boy Chronicles" marks Mullins' movie debut and probably the first time anyone has heard about him since his Grammy nomination in 1998 for his hit song "Lullaby." Whether or not you're a fan of "Lullaby's" breathy verses, Mullins proves that he can at least play a washout who neurotically avoids success.

The film's best comedic moments astutely reveal the various antics associated with a dead-end job. As the "Restaurant on Wheels" team proves, just when you think you've seen it all, people have a habit of surprising you. Molly, for one, takes it upon herself to cure the agoraphobic to whom she makes deliveries by tricking her into locking herself out. Molly then pops up and offers the woman her food. This plan fails, as the woman throws herself through her own window rather than face another human being.

When pressed to find change for a customer's $100 bill, Magoo resorts to a strip club where he trades the bill for the ones tucked into a stripper's thong. Similarly, Price's character gets a beating from a midget when he fails to deliver the man's chicken wings because he confuses him with the singing corporate "oompa loompas" that appeared to Mike during his trippy job interview.

Though disjointed in plot and underdeveloped in character, this film is entertaining, but certainly not on the scale with cult classics such as "Dazed and Confused" or "Clerks," both of which it clearly borrows from। That said, "Delivery Boy Chronicles" does manage a few laugh-out-loud moments. Burning of social security cards and Tibetan monks aside, the film's message is clear: Grow up, but don't settle.

Official Website: www.deliveryboychronicles.com