Tiny Cinema Review

Tiny Cinema review.

Tiny Cinema presents 6 short stories of consistent quality. It’s not a surprise that this anthology manages to keep an even tone and quality…everything is directed by the same person. That leads to an overall positive but does present one true drawback.

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Tiny Cinema

Directed by Tyler Cornack

Written by Tyler Cornack, Ryan Koch and William Morean

Starring Paul Ford, Olivia Herman, Austin Lewis, Shelby Dash and Kevin Michael Moran

Tiny Cinema Review

The best aspect of most anthology films is that we see multiple filmmakers tackle a short story. This is also the worst aspect of most anthology films. The quality of segments varies so wildly that you can get a standout story in the same movie where you are bored to tears by another one. Tiny Cinema eliminates both aspects by having one vision from its director, Tyler Cornack.

This way has its own plusses and minuses. On the one hand, Tiny Cinema carries one tone through the entire film. That’s something that a lot of anthology movies strive for but can’t achieve. On the other hand, this method doesn’t allow for anything to truly stand out. As a result, Tiny Cinema may appeal more to viewers who don’t like the ups and downs of most films of its type. But it might be missing something for viewers who do.

Tiny Cinema does away with the usual wrap around story in favor of having a host (Paul Ford). The Host introduces us to segments with a Twilight Zone type intro…but played for more humor. Actually, that describes the tone of the whole anthology pretty well.

Let’s get to the segments…ranked from worst to best we do.

6. Motherfuckers (segment 5)

All the stories in Tiny Cinema are built around a joke. Motherfuckers is an extremely short segment that is just the joke. A joke about having sex with someone’s mother. It’s not a funny joke…but it’s so short it basically feels like a commercial break anyway. There is a funny button on the segment in the form of someone’s facial expression. That’s worth a giggle, I guess.

5. Bust (segment 3)

The joke in Bust is that one of three friends can’t get an erection unless he is witness to some violence. It too is not a great joke. What makes the segment work at all is the lengths that the man’s two friends will go to in order to help him out. It leans into a level of absurdity that carries it to second last place. Which doesn’t mean much as not a lot separates these rankings.

4. Game Night (segment 1)

Game Night kicks off Tiny Cinema by letting us know exactly what we are in for. It’s based around a man who becomes obsessed with answering the question “Who is she”? The “she” he is consumed with is who the woman being referred to is in the “that’s what SHE said” joke. It’s completely absurd but pushes the one note joke so far that it wins you over. It has a suitably unhinged payoff.

3. Daddy’s Home (segment 6)

The final segment of Tiny Cinema features a man who goes on an awful date where he is tricked into snorting the ashes of his date’s dead father. That doesn’t sound like a setup for a joke…but it is one. He starts to take on the personality of the father and begins to physically resemble him. This one wouldn’t work without the performance of Sam Landers. He rings everything he can out of the unwanted transformation.

2. Deep Impact (segment 4)

Deep Impact might be the best segment in Tiny Cinema. Like I said…there isn’t much that separates these. The story centers around a delivery man who meets his future self. He learns that the only way to save the world is to have sex with his future self. As with all the segments, Deep Impact pays off with a joke…so you can probably figure out where this is going. It works well as a short story though.

1. Edna (segment 2)

I’m going with Edna as the winner of the group. The story of a lonely woman who wants nothing more than to find a man to spend her life with. One day she finds a corpse in the river and takes him home to live out her dream. There are great heights of absurdity in Edna. It’s the only segment that really features a second joke too. Part Lars and the Real Girl, part be careful what you wish for. Edna delivers the most consistent enjoyment in Tiny Cinema.

Scare Value

Tiny Cinema helps itself out by striking a consistent tone and throwing away the usual wrap around story. Having a host to introduce new segments is a great alternative. The lack of multiple visions contributing to the production means there’s no chance for the type of standout segment we usually see in anthology films. The tradeoff is that we don’t have to suffer through a true stinker either. Honestly…it’s kind of an even trade.

3/5