Pot smoking is seen all through the film Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas and based on the generally pointless, rambling, and dull quality of the film it would seem that all the bongs and pot weren't set props but were equipment used to make the film.
The storyline had to be conceived while stoned, that's if it was actually fully conceived before the film began shooting. It seems just as likely that shooting began and the story was made up one bong hit at a time.
The gist of the story is that Bickford Shmeckler wrote a "book" which is so full of astounding concepts about life, the universe, and everything that it changes the lives of almost anyone who reads it. (Only the barest hint of these "cool ideas" are ever actually revealed to the audience.)
Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas isn't really sure of what sort of film it's supposed to be. At times it seems it's a moronic party comedy, at times it tries to be serious. But whatever it tries it fails on all accounts.
The characters are flat and lifeless, which doesn't seem to be the fault of the actors, it definitely feels like bad writing and direction.
The attempts at humor (which include a scene where a handful of gay slurs are shared, one sight gag with a person in a wheelchair, and a mentally ill character included for the sake of zaniness) also fail. That includes the terrible idea to name the title character Bickford Shmeckler. (I laughed once during the film, 34 minutes into it. Shortly after that the only thing visually interesting in the film happens when...SPOILER ALERT...Bickford suddenly stabs a meat fork into a cantaloupe. It was also the film's only genuine moment.)
What makes this film worth disliking is that there was a chance to explore some interesting ideas here such as people embracing pop theology/ideology in a manner that's just as mindless as their lives before exposure to the new ideas. Or people wanting to embrace trinkets such as hats and t-shirts as an expression of their beliefs. Or the discovery of a writer who doesn't want to be discovered and who definitely doesn't want to be the leader of some new quasi-religion based on his writing. In fact Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas so completely misses making a point (or even telling an interesting story) that this "story" could be turned into an entirely different, much better film.
The storyline had to be conceived while stoned, that's if it was actually fully conceived before the film began shooting. It seems just as likely that shooting began and the story was made up one bong hit at a time.
The gist of the story is that Bickford Shmeckler wrote a "book" which is so full of astounding concepts about life, the universe, and everything that it changes the lives of almost anyone who reads it. (Only the barest hint of these "cool ideas" are ever actually revealed to the audience.)
Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas isn't really sure of what sort of film it's supposed to be. At times it seems it's a moronic party comedy, at times it tries to be serious. But whatever it tries it fails on all accounts.
The characters are flat and lifeless, which doesn't seem to be the fault of the actors, it definitely feels like bad writing and direction.
The attempts at humor (which include a scene where a handful of gay slurs are shared, one sight gag with a person in a wheelchair, and a mentally ill character included for the sake of zaniness) also fail. That includes the terrible idea to name the title character Bickford Shmeckler. (I laughed once during the film, 34 minutes into it. Shortly after that the only thing visually interesting in the film happens when...SPOILER ALERT...Bickford suddenly stabs a meat fork into a cantaloupe. It was also the film's only genuine moment.)
What makes this film worth disliking is that there was a chance to explore some interesting ideas here such as people embracing pop theology/ideology in a manner that's just as mindless as their lives before exposure to the new ideas. Or people wanting to embrace trinkets such as hats and t-shirts as an expression of their beliefs. Or the discovery of a writer who doesn't want to be discovered and who definitely doesn't want to be the leader of some new quasi-religion based on his writing. In fact Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas so completely misses making a point (or even telling an interesting story) that this "story" could be turned into an entirely different, much better film.