Winnebago Man Review

For me, the most interesting documentaries involve some sort of accident of fate. When the end result of a documentary, whatever it's about, is pretty much what the filmmaker envisioned at the start, I'm not interested. You may end up with something great, and certainly something worth the time, but it's never as brilliant an adventure, or (for me) as entertaining in terms of the world of filmcraft.

Winnebago Man doesn't quite have the scope of accident that something like Capturing the Friedmans brings forward, but there is a certain twist that turns things into an entirely different film. That twist adds the oddity that probably kept director Ben Steinbauer interested enough to bother with a complete film.

The focus is on Jack Rebney, in case you don't know him as Winnebago Man (or The Angriest Man on Earth), one of the earliest viral video legends. Even before the internet offered a medium for sharing such things, Rebney was being passed around via VHS tape, even popping up such places as The Show With No Name which featured YouTube hits before there was any such thing as YouTube.

Rebney's claim to fame is outtake footage from a promo video he was making for Winnebago. Letting loose with an almost unbelievable volley of curses, Jack's tirade has, in one incarnation or another, been viewed so often that it staggers the imagination.

A true cultural phenomenon, his rant has been quoted and alluded to in several movies and TV shows, and for the internet savvy, the man is an integral part of the idea of viral videos.

Steinbauer, among the many fans of Winnebago Man, and a film professor, tried to figure out what happened to old Jack. As a kind of lark, apparently inspired by some of the cases where viral videos have led to much embarrassment, if not necessarily real "bullying," Steinbauer tried to look up Rebney, just to see what he was doing, decades after the filming of that which made him famous.

The quest that became the film got started when Steinbauer couldn't find anything. Even after hiring a private investigator, it seemed that Rebney had disappeared. The curiosity hook firmly in place, Steinbauer was now moved to find out what happened to him. Fueled by the negative effects of viral videos on others, he wondered if Rebney had been so embarrassed that he chose to remove himself from the public. Had he gone into hiding? Had he suffered any negative reaction?

He eventually meets Rebney, and tries to get inside the head of the man who is famous for being angry, but about whom no one really knows anything. Meeting with others who worked on the famous video, Rebney's best friend, and managing a lot of footage of Rebney himself, Steinbauer explores this curious icon of the internet age, and tries to figure out not only what makes him tick, but why his video is so interesting to people.

It's a documentary that is put together exceptionally well, and I believe partially because Rebney threw Steinbauer for a bit of a loop early on. Finding him was somewhat interesting, but if not for the bizarre twist, we may never have known anything the adventure.

Rebney is an opinionated, rather egotistical man, and that might be what we expect, but he's something more as well. Perhaps more of a nut than we thought, perhaps not, but there is a regular guy in there as well... somewhere. It's often hilarious to watch the antics before us, but the film is put together without much regard for the potential of simply creating a feature-length viral of a guy who really gets into his shouting. Funnier, frankly, by eschewing an effort at being funny.

Though Rebney has a low opinion of anyone who might consider themselves a fan of his ranting video, he eventually comes around, I think at least partially because of the theory behind the investigation. A theory, that I suspect did not really exist until many moons into the production.

There is a live question behind wondering about the popularity of the screaming, fly-hating Winnebago salesman, and we eventually get somewhere with it. When a guy falls hilariously, we understand why that video gets tons of hits. Though we may feel bad about it later, we also understand the attraction to people who make fools out of themselves, especially when they are completely serious. But, this is just a guy yelling.

At a point near the end of the film, we hear the reactions of some fans when they get to meet Rebney, and by and large they wrap things up nicely. "When I get home from a really bad day at work," one of them begins, and we know where things are going. Winnebago Man is at work, having a really bad day, and who among us wouldn't like just one day of going into the office and letting fly for all we're worth?

If you see one documentary all year, make it Winnebago Man. It's probably one of the funniest things you'll see, documentary or otherwise, and if this doesn't give you something to talk about, nothing will.

Rating:  

Winnebago Man is now playing in select cities and is expanding for the next month or so. Seek it out, and don't miss it.

Here's the trailer.

And, here's the video in question, which is not really safe for work.

RU?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Film: Review: Winnebago Man (avclub.com)
• 'Winnebago Man' a peculiar stalking documentary (reuters.com)
• Movie Review | 'Winnebago Man': YouTube to Big Screen: RV Pitchman With Short Fuse (movies.nytimes.com)
• LAist Movie Review: Winnebago Man (laist.com)

© 2010, Are You Screening?. All rights reserved. Reprinting without express permission of the author is prohibited.

About Marc Eastman

Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

Twitter | Facebook | More Posts (1450)