The romance of Conrad and Steve, while compelling in the web series, is laborious to watch in the feature film. Image courtesy of The Bicyclists.
The Bicyclists
Craftmaster Independent
DVD available online at The Bicyclists website
Overall impression: 3/10
Last night, Portland filmmaker Carl Jameson was kind enough to provide a free showing of The Bicyclists, his feature length film about characters he developed in his online series, The Bicyclist. Both the web series and the film focus on Conrad, a Wisconsin transplant to Portland, and his eventual love interest, Steve, an unfortunately named Portlander who has ambitions to start her own fashion line. All the main characters are cyclists centered around a local bike shop with some good ribbing at the expense of many cycling archetypes. The online episodes are funny and quick paced and develop flawed, sympathetic characters that you enjoy following. Those looking for a similarly compelling viewing will be sorely disappointed in this adaptation to the big screen.
First, filmmaker Jameson jettisoned much of the humor of the serial in favor of a straight up romance story. This is unfortunate as not only does the humor help move the story along, but also helps us develop a relationship with the characters. Characters like surly bike mechanic Zach were strangely kept on a leash and the use of sex tension among the characters is largely absent. Using the tried and true formula of animosity turn romance used from Jane Austen to Cheers, the web version waits 21 episodes until Steve’s initial disdain turns to enamor with Conrad. Instead after a relatively short meeting, we delve straight into the sometimes hot, sometimes cold romantic relationship of Conrad and Steve. This quickness to the punch meant I cared little for the overly dramatic angst of the couple although the actors had a good on-screen chemistry.
Also, the dialogue was stilted and cliched including such eye rollers as “Good thing we didn’t fall in love otherwise this would be awkward.” In the web series, Conrad is a lovable dolt, straight off the farm in the big city so some of this cheesy dialogue is ironic as he tries too hard to get the girl. In the film, Conrad comes off as much more sophisticated, and the lines are played straight to unfortunate presentation.
Add to this the laborious pace of the first half of the film, and you have a movie that is difficult to watch. The second half moves at a better clip with a sudden dark turn and the realization that some of the characters are not who you think they are earlier in the movie. This C change salvages an otherwise forgettable film. If you haven’t seen The Bicyclist web series, skip this movie and go straight to the online episodes. If are a fan of the serial, skip this movie to avoid the inevitable disappointment. I really wanted to like this film, but the inclusion of bicycle culture is not enough to carry it, even to this cyclist.
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