Ultra-competitiveness gets the best of a group of friends in Michael Charron’s short film, First Impressions. Randall (Erik Anderson) and Denise (Alyssia Riveria) arrive at their friends’, Amanda (Diana Rose) and James (Chadwick Smith), home for game night. Hoping to break Amanda’s weeks-long winning streak, Denise brings the game First Impressions and her ringer boyfriend, master impressionist Randall.
The game is simple. Within the allotted time, you grab a celebrity name from the card deck and do an impression. The winning team is whoever guesses the most names correctly. After Randall’s dead-on impressions of Gilbert Gottfried and Michael Caine, Denise is entirely clueless when it comes to impression-worthy celebrities, and Amanda’s winning streak is about to be extended.
“…you grab a celebrity name from the card deck and do an impression.”
First Impressions is a comedy sketch. Writer/director Michael Charron does some good work on this simple short and impresses when it comes to the coverage of action featuring four friends sitting around a table playing a game. The film is very solid, from its setup as the game’s ringer failing miserably to the final revelation/punch line.
As a fan of comedies, my only wish is that the humor was pushed a few steps further in its torture of poor Randall. I’m looking for more humiliation with a truly “out there” conclusion.
First Impressions is also a showcase of the talented impressionist Erik Anderson. His impressions tend to be more dead-on to the celebrities’ voices than a vocal caricature of these actors. Anderson can fire off his impressions quickly, with more spotlighted during the end credits.
For more information about First Impressions, visit the Rogue Alchemy Pictures official website.
