THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM (2011) is weirdly-titled Todd Rohal comedy #2, and truly the only thing I knew about it was that the OCN partner label Factory 25 gave it a special edition blu-ray a few years ago and some people seemed to think it was some type of cult classic. I feel pretty ignorant now because it turns out it’s a Seattle production and I even know a couple people in the credits. I had no idea.

I also didn’t know that it’s a two-hander with two actors I like who I’ve never seen in lead roles like this before. Steve Little, who I know as Kenny Powers’ sycophantic sidekick Stevie Janowski on Eastbound & Down, plays a very similar character here, except that he has somehow become a priest. Father Billy causes concern with the elders when they overhear him telling a long story to his Bible study group and admitting it’s not biblical, not allegorical, just some crazy shit he read on the internet. “It was more of a joke story,” he explains when asked how it pertains to their discussion of Deuteronomy. He’s also into heavy metal, calls everybody “dude,” and doesn’t know how to modulate in front of people who expect him to behave like a grown adult and/or clergyman.

I think his superior Father O’Herilhy would say this differently, but basically Billy is some random dipshit who’s not at all cutting it in this job. O’Herlihy encourages Billy to take his holiday early and do some soul searching. That’s cool, because he’s planned a reunion with his sister’s ex-boyfriend Robbie Shoemaker, a role model for him growing up. “And guess what? Us dudes are gonna hit the water in a canoe,” he brags.

Robbie is pretty cool compared to Billy. Wears an earring, even. He’s played by Robert Longstreet, who has a long resume in the world of indie film but I finally caught on to him from Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, DOCTOR SLEEP, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club and The Fall of the House of Usher. So I knew who he was by the time he played Lonnie in HALLOWEEN KILLS, but I didn’t remember that he’d also been in David Gordon Green’s UNDERTOW and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. Now it’s all making sense because this was the first feature film from Rough House Productions, Green’s company with Danny McBride and Jody Hill.

When he meets Robbie at a diner, Father Billy has some misconceptions. He thinks he’s the guitarist for a band called Defrockation. Turns out he just googled “Robbie Shoemaker” and found a different one. This Robbie does in fact live on the road, but only as a spotlight operator for the Icecapades. He hasn’t played guitar in about 15 years.

Robbie is polite, but clearly taken aback by this excitable dork who keeps saying “freaking” with an air of mischief, like he’s getting away with something. At breakfast Billy orders multiple glasses of milk and plates of chicken tenders. He has his first ever cup of coffee and later his first beer (Rainier), with negative results. He turns out to not actually know how to row a boat and asks questions like “Do you think a blue life jacket or a yellow life jacket is safer?”

In many ways he’s a variation on a very familiar comedy premise: the adult man who still has little boy obsessions. We’ve seen this in funny movies starring Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Andy Samberg, etc., so THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM feels closer to a normal comedy than the fever dream of THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE. But it’s still an unusual tone because I think it successfully mixes those types of laughs with a haunting sense of regret. I’ve always kinda hated when broad comedies bother with some “serious” part of the plot even though there’s no chance I actually give a shit if Billy Madison makes up with his girlfriend or whatever. So I’m impressed by one like this that does manage to get me invested in their emotions.

The central theme is unrealized potential – Billy’s failure to live up to standards of reasonably competent adulthood, and Robbie’s failure to live up to the dreams he once had. Much of it is seen through Billy’s immature perspective, so it’s an adult man who still believes in his idealized image of his older sister’s cool boyfriend from when he was a kid. Robbie doesn’t even remember Billy at all, barely remembers the teenage fling with his sister, his marriage and music career were failures, he abandoned all artistic pursuits in favor of normal jobs years ago and now he’s faced with this enthusiastic idiot who keeps telling him he’s a cool rock star and genius writer. Longstreet is so good at getting the humor of the situation, but also many other layers. He gets to react in disbelief at this weirdo, probly feel a little bad about not being the guy he sees, but also, for a while, be amused by it, a little rekindled by it. He re-embraces creativity by telling stories to his only fan here (which, ironically, Billy finds unsatisfyingly inconclusive).

Here’s Robbie seeming somewhat horrified to realize a guy he doesn’t even remember has idolized him since high school:

And here he’s starting to be charmed by his dorkiness:

I think Little is extremely funny, Longstreet is deeply likable, and watching them bounce off each other is a joy. I was gonna enjoy the canoe ride whether they actually had a destination or were just gonna keep going until it was time to turn back. Some (including me) might appreciate THE CATECHISM CATACLYSM having more focus and structure to it than THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE, while also getting more laughs, but not at the expense of emotional resonance. But ultimately it takes a wild swerve that may lose some of those people. You could definitely argue that this bizarre turn of events doesn’t fit with the rest of the movie, but I guess that’s what I liked about it. I cannot claim I saw that coming.

I don’t think it’s totally random – it’s a movie about telling stories with endings that confuse people, and about not living up to potential. But having seen a few of Rohal’s movies now I know that he really likes pulling that lever with the big sign on it that says Absolutely Do Not Fucking Pull This Lever, You’re Not Supposed To. So it might be more about that. Once again, though, I kinda like it. I like being surprised. I like a movie that can color inside the lines long enough to prove it knows how before going way off the page into a whole separate book. And anyway it was the journey that mattered. This is a fun one.