No. 27 Mullitt (2000) 9 of 100

 

Here’s a small oddity, a 22 minute short film that was produced for the Sundance Film Festival. I say 22 minutes but it’s only about 19 if you take the credits off.

This film lands quite early in Shannon’s oeuvre but it did follow some big screen credits, and came after ‘Tigerland’ and just before ‘Pearl Harbour’ for the actor. He clearly didn’t let his ascending stardom get in the way of taking part in this low budget effort that sees him play a character called ‘Phil Kunz’ and has him in his pants covered in cake.

The main character is Earl, who is Shannon’s flatmate. The two are down on their luck with Shannon wearing only a cardboard box to hide his modesty. Their landlord is generous about the overdue rent and gives them a whole day to find the cash or face eviction.

Earl decides to cash in some of his comic based wealth but the seedy comic shop owner isn’t interested in Earl’s box of Spider-Man comics. What an idiot – there might be an ASM 129 in there! He says he’s interested in more obscure items and sends Earl away.

Earl speaks with his landlord Henry Gibson, who you’ll know as the head Illinois Nazi from ‘The Blues Brothers’, who lets slip that he has a slice of cake from Barbara Streisand’s wedding. The rest of the film is dedicated to Early and Phil’s attempts to steal the prized cake and to fence it to pay the rent. Will things go smoothly or is the cake destined to be a pancake?

I quite liked this short film which you can find on YouTube – link below. It is clearly all tongue in cheek and the close angles and poor film stock only add to the whole seedy affair.

Shannon seems to have fun as the irreverent Phil and I have to wonder is he and Earl are based on the pop group Sparks as the resemblance seems too close to be a coincidence. Clearly Shannon can step in any time Ron Mael needs a night off.

The plot kind of peters out towards the end and I wasn’t satisfied with the muddled resolution. It was however quite a fun outing with a few laughs and a lot of ideas crammed into the short run time.

Looking through Shannon’s resume he did a lot of shorts, music videos and guest appearances around this time and was clearly keen to get his face out there as much as possible. This may not have been the best vehicle for his talents, as he’s seen in his black leather pants covered in cake, but he clearly had no inhibitions and wasn’t taking himself too seriously.

This short film is a bit of an oddity and has barely had 1000 views on YouTube, but I think it’s worth 20 minutes of your time as it’s entertaining and a fun insight into the early days of a soon to be famous actor’s career.

Link to Film : On YouTube

When is Shannon-On? - 02.40

Outcome? In his pants covered in cake

Film 3.5/5

Shannon Stars 4/5