Blind dating takes on a whole new meaning in this indie sci-fi film from director Richard Lerner.
In a parallel universe, blind dating has taken a whole new form in a game called Intermate. The game has become a major success with the locals. The game involves both the real and virtual worlds and players must find who is real and who is not real. However, the authorities of the multiverse are unhappy with what has been going with the game and they begin to take drastic measures. They enlist one of their top officers to find the game and shut it down.
Disguised as a repairman, the officer intends to divert three players to Earth in an attempt to end the game once and for all. However, for Iastar, Lleva, and Desa, their adventure has just begun. In their attempt to find the fourth “player”, they find themselves having real-life experiences including going to a nightclub as well as finding themselves as part of an escort service when one of the trio mistakes a client for a player in the game. Now, the repairman must do whatever it takes to find the girls, bring them back home and shut the game down once and for all.
Science fiction has come a long way since the days of monsters and giant bugs hitting the screens. Nowadays, you can add sci-fi to virtually any genre. Why not make a sci-fi rom-com with some twists mixed in? That was what filmmaker Richard Lerner had come up with this film, taking today’s trend of dating apps and adding a sci-fi edge to it with this wild indie ride of a film that earned many indie sci-fi awards as a result.
The interesting notion of the film is the game, Intermate. For this game that is supposed to take place in a multiverse, which includes our universe, players must find real love and other players involved and find out who are virtual players, avatars the creators of the game have planted in the various worlds. From the plot, the film sounds like it could be a somewhat erotic film but actually it is not. There is actually barely any nudity or sexual situations that one would expect in this genre of film. Instead, it is a wild ride involving three players from another universe who arrive on Earth thinking they are playing the game.
Maya Stojan, Malea Rose, and Lorynn York pull off pretty fun performances as the definition of “fish out of water” with their respective roles of Iastar, Lleva, and Desa. They do pine to find true love, but they think the game is the only way they can find it. However, as the “repairman”, played by Jonathan Goldstein, narrates in the film, the universe has gotten “stupider”. Perhaps the film makes a statement that true love can’t be found in the virtual world, but more in person and because of the risk of technological glitches, which appear throughout the film in various forms, the multiverse is seen as the highest authority to bring a sense of balance within all the universes. As for Goldstein, he provides much of the film’s comic relief as he attempts to shut down Intermate and bring the trio of girls back home, but of course, having that rom-com element, things don’t go as planned.
Flashout is a fun wild ride into the multiverse and parallel universe bringing dating to a whole new level with some good performances from the cast. This film proves you can mix sci-fi with any genre these days.
WFG RATING: B
Random Media presents a Flashout Films production. Director: Richard Lerner. Producer: Richard Lerner. Writer: Richard Lerner. Cinematography: Zoltan Honti. Editing: Zach Wolf.
Cast: Maya Stojan, Malea Rose, Lorynn York, Jonathan Goldstein, Allison Dunbar, Gerald Downey, John Patrick Jordan, Vedette Lim, Aria Sirvaitis, P.J. Marino, Matthew Florida.
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