Idiots and Angels

Director: Bill Plymptom

Review By: Robert Sabetto

Idiots and Angels is a delightfully dark and quirky animated comedy about a miserable, mean suit-— I’ll call him “Dick”—- whose sole mission in life is to make other people, well, as miserable as he is.  Dick is not a happy camper.  He’s a big ugly lug with no life and no friends, and it’s no wonder.  He throws his alarm clock at birds that wake him up in the morning.  He cuts people off on the highway.  He blows smoke in people's faces and drops his cigarettes into their drinks.  When another suit steals his parking spot, he tries to choke the guy through his car window.  That doesn’t work, so he rigs a fuse into the guy’s gas tank and lights it.  See Dick laugh. 

The thing about Dick, though, is that his attitude kinda gets in the way of his happiness.  He spends hour after hour rotting solo in a dank neighborhood bar inhabited by freaky, lonely souls like himself.  The object of his affection, the wife of the bar’s owner, is none too fond of Dick.  Maybe it’s because he, ahem, sits on her.  Or maybe it’s because he keeps changing the television channel from her cha-cha music to his ball game.  Or maybe it has something to do with the way he handles a beautiful butterfly with which the barflies are enamored.  Whatever it is, she finds him vile.

One morning, Dick awakes to find a brand-spanking new set of wings budding out of his back.  He cuts them off (ouch!), but they grow back.  Bigger.  Again and again.  He tries to hide them, but they have a life of their own.  Much to his dismay, they do good deeds, dragging him along with them.  This interferes with his agenda, which is repeatedly undermined by his new appendages.  Initially, he is the object of ridicule.  That lasts only a short time, however, as those who mocked him quickly see how having wings could work for them.  Hmmm.  Suddenly, Dick finds himself at the receiving end of their exploitation and cruelty.  Karma’s a bitch, but what’s a Dick to do?

The drama here is Dick’s struggle, and through it emerges his redeeming quality: for better or worse, he’s the only completely honest character.  *Idiots and Angels* could be a comment on many things-- good and evil, human nature, honesty, love, beauty, or all of the above.  Regardless, it will leave you pondering it.  There’s no dialogue, and the animation is that shaky, fuzzy seventies-style stuff that sometimes causes mild migraines.  Nonetheless, the action and the plot move steadily enough to keep one engaged and overcome any headaches.