Fritz, Francis and Frederick is an experimental absurdist comedy written and directed by Jesse Barack. The movie is funny and entertainingly weird, just don’t expect a whole lot in terms of story and character development. This isn’t so much a character study as it is a behavioral study.

The story takes place over one night – kind of like THE HANGOVER, with some darker elements reminiscent of the 1993 thriller JUDGMENT NIGHT thrown in as well. Two buddies, Fritz and Francis, run over some girl with their car. Later in the scene, a smash cut reveals that they’re rehearsing a scene, and they never hit a girl at all. At least, I think that’s what happened. Fritz, Francis and a third friend, Frederick, are trying to make a feature film. This gives Barack license to play all kinds of tricks on the audience.

The boys go to a restaurant, where they meet some sketchy people, and then go back to Fritz’s place, where they get high and piss off Francis’ ex. A pizza delivery guy – who will factor in the story later – and a driver dressed like a sailor show up. The boys venture out into the night again, encounter some yokels and end up killing one of them. Reasoning there’s no use crying over spilled milk, they set off for Vegas.

The movie is so absurd and loopy I can imagine it gaining a cult following of sorts, made up of people who like asking serious questions about silly things (and who probably enjoy the sticky icky). Like, “What’s with all the ridiculous hats in this movie?” (I’m particularly fond of the one Francis is wearing near the beginning, which looks like the big fur hat Jason Biggs wore in LOSER.) Or, “What are yokels doing in suburban New York?” I have no answers to these questions. I suppose the movie is about suburban male ennui, but that doesn’t quite explain how bizarre things get. I’ll leave it to you to figure it out. All I can say is that I had fun watching it.