Sitting in a suite at the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown, "Miss March" actor/director/writer and Arlington, Va., native Zach Cregger chatted a little bit about D.C. while waiting for his co-star/director/writer Trevor Moore. Neither Cregger nor Moore seemed to be the type of guy who is used to the posh environment of the Ritz, which was evident in their attire: jeans and sneakers.
So how did these seemingly normal guys - members of the comedy troupe "The Whitest Kids U'Know" - get attached to their first major motion film, "Miss March?"
"Actually, FOX came to us with the script to re-write," Moore said. "Originally, they wanted it be a 'Zach and Trevor' movie."
"We saw it as a writing exercise," Cregger said. "The whole 'road trip sex comedy' has been done before so we just wanted to make it different. The only things that stayed the same from the original script were a guy in a coma, an ex-girlfriend as a Playmate and a road trip."
They pieced together the story about Eugene Bell (Cregger) who awakes from a four-year coma to find out that his then-virginal high school girlfriend, Cindi, is now a centerfold for Playboy magazine. Desperate to figure out what happened, Eugene and his best friend, Tucker (Moore), go on a cross-country trip to the Playboy Mansion, encountering Tucker's psycho girlfriend, some vengeful firefighters and a horny lesbian couple along the way.
"Miss March" isn't a thinking movie. It isn't a date movie, unless your date is fine with awkward nude scenes and pointless plot points. It's a movie for those who would laugh at a guy hitting a comatose hospital patient in the head with a bat as a method of waking them up. Or a girl drinking a glass of dog pee thinking it's the best champagne ever. It's a movie that tries to push the envelope but in most cases, overdoes it.
The movie isn't for everyone. With its potty humor and physical comedy, it seems like a movie that Will Ferrell or Jim Carrey might have done in their younger years. However, both Cregger and Moore wanted to create something different in the already-been-done "road trip sex comedy" genre. They added pieces of their own lives throughout the movie.
In regards to an early scene of Eugene and Cindi giving an "Abstinence Now" seminar, Moore said, "Zach and I grew up in conservative backgrounds where there were those types of things. For the movie, it was a satire of that type of upbringing."
"When I was younger," Cregger said of relating to their characters, "I was more like Eugene but as I grew up, I got to be more like Tucker. I think that everyone will find a part of the characters in each of them."
Both Cregger and Moore give good performances as the somewhat sensible Eugene and the idiotic sex-crazed Tucker, respectively. Other standouts in the film are Molly Stanton ("Passions") as Tucker's epileptic girlfriend Candace, and Craig Robinson ("The Office") as rapper Horsedick.MPEG. Even Hugh Hefner garners some screen time. Each of the cast members were even willing to do some stunts.
"I was smashed into the car a few times with the wheelchair and blasted with the fire hose," Cregger remembered.
"Miss March" opens March 13. Check out the film's Web site at www.MissMarchMovie.com.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
