Four Dead Batteries is a good example of what a low budget indie film can be. It is a fun, quirky little film that is completely dialogue driven and has a good understanding of what it wants to do, and everyone involved is in on it. That is not to say that it is perfect by any stretch, but the pluses outweigh the negatives.
Four Dead Batteries is a chick flick about guys. Four guys in varying stages of relationships and life philosophies. Watch them discuss their love lives, often in graphic detail, and their insecurities as they try to make heads or tails of themselves. It is a journey of discovery as their emotional maturity comes to a head.
The movie reminds me a lot of Kevin Smith's style of dialogue which, at times, is more epic than the characters probably deserve, while the camera sits unobtrusively shooting the action. In addition to the stylistic similarities, I found the four guys to be reminiscent of Smith's characters. Harold reminds me of Dante (from Clerks), from his mannerisms and constant state of worry. Patrick is like Randall (also from Clerks), not really heartless, but he does think a lot about himself and his own needs. Hennessy can be likened to TS (from Mallrats), he is neurotic and obsessed with the girlfriend who just left him. Lastly, there is Patrick, for whom I can't come up with an analogy, although there is something very familiar about him.
There are four story threads which weave throughout the length of the movie, brought together by camaraderie of the friends and their involvement in an improv comedy group, The Four Dead Batteries. Harold is dealing with his wife's desire to have a child, which throws him into fits of unreadiness, while Patrick becomes infatuated with an enigmatic young woman who may be able to cure him of his philandering ways at a most inopportune time. Hennessy frets about getting over his ex, and wondering if he was ever loved, while Nick is suffering through a loveless marriage and strikes up an affair with the principal of the school where he teaches.
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