comedy, Eliza Roberts, Eric Roberts, Hippo, Jesse Pimentel, Kimball Farley, Lilla Kizlinger, Mark H. Rapaport, movies, reviews
December 5, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Mark H. Rapaport
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the comedy film “Hippo” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A sulky rebel, his adopted sister and their widowed mother have various conflicts over life issues.
Culture Audience: “Hippo” will appeal mainly to people who are open to watching strange comedies that have very eccentric characters.
The dark comedy of “Hippo” is bizarre, subversive, and isn’t meant to have massive appeal. Scratch beneath the surface of weirdness and you’ll find a clever allegories about Greek mythology and Judeo-Christian beliefs. Viewers should be warned though: The crude sexual jokes in the movie push the boundaries of what is considered offensive. “Hippo” has a way with dealing with the characters who are the worst offenders.
“Hippo” is the feature-film directorial debut of Mark H. Rapaport, who co-wrote the “Hippo” screenplay with “Hippo” star Kimball Farley. “Hippo” had its world premiere at the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival. This low-budget independent film is entirely in black and white, with a very small number of people in the cast.
Much of the comedy from “Hippo” comes from the deliberately pompous narration (voiced by Eric Roberts) of an unseen storyteller, who tells the tale of a very strange and isolated family, as if he’s describing an epic and fascinating family saga. The three people in this unconventional clan are two teenagers and their mother, who live in an unnamed U.S. city. The two teens have been homeschooled all of their lives and have no friends.
Adam (played by Farley), whose nickname is Hippo, is about 18 or 19 years old. His sister Boglárka (played by Lilla Kizlinger), who is nicknamed Buttercup, is 17 years old and was adopted from Hungary when she was 7 years old. Buttercup still has a Hungarian accent. The mother of Hippo and Buttercup is mild-mannered Ethel (played by Eliza Roberts, who is married in real life to Eric Roberts), who spends much of the story trying to make her children happy.
It’s mentioned early on in the movie that the things Hippo loves most in the world are video games and his mother’s cooking. He especially loves to eat sweets—unlike Buttercup, who has had an aversion to sweets ever since her adoptive father Barron body-shamed her for eating sweets. When the story begins, Barron has been dead for five years. The opening scene shows Hippo and Buttercup visiting his grave on the fifth anniversary of his death.
Hippo is rebellious, impulsive and egotistical. During a family dinner conversation, he asks Ethel if it’s possible that World War III could happen in his lifetime. Ethel says it’s possible, so Hippo announces that he wants a gun to protect himself. Ethel suggests a fake gun because Hippo is under the age of 21. Hippo ultimately settles for a crossbow as his weapon of choice. He has a habit of shooting balloons with the crossbow.
Buttercup, who is a virgin, has a different fixation: She wants to get pregnant and give birth to child, which she says would be an “heir” to their family dynasty. The problem is that she thinks Hippo would be the ideal person to father the child, but Hippo is repulsed by the idea. Buttercup tells Hippo that technically it wouldn’t be incest because she and Hippo are not biologically related. Much of the movie is about Hippo and Buttercup having conflicts with each other, with their mother Ethel sometimes trying to keep the peace between the two siblings.
Buttercup ends up going on Craigslist to find a man to impregnate her. (It’s mentioned in the film that Buttercup lives in a U.S. state where 17 years old is the minimum legal age of consent to have sex with an adult.) Buttercup’s search on Craigslist leads to her being in contact with a perverted creep named Darwin (played by Jesse Pimentel), who doesn’t hesitate to tell Buttercup about his kinky fantasies. Darwin eventually meets Buttercup, Hippo and Ethel in one of the most off-the-wall parts of the movie.
“Hippo” has some jokes that miss the mark and others that don’t. One of the tamer jokes in the movie is a dialogue between Hippo and Buttercup after Hippo dyes his hair platinum blonde. Buttercup says, “You look like Brad Pitt in ‘Thelma and Louise.'” Hippo replies angrily, “No, I don’t. I look like the agent in ‘Body Harvest!” (“Body Harvest” is the name of a Nintendo video game.)
Although the movie is named “Hippo,” Kizlinger steals the show as Buttercup and makes the biggest lasting impression. Her deadpan comedic delivery is near-perfect. Hippo is an obvious blowhard, whose narcissism and destructiveness become a bit one-note after a while. Buttercup is the more interesting character because she is both scheming and naïve—and therefore much more unpredictable than Hippo. Over time, it’s obvious that Buttercup has a determination to get what she wants that could equally match or surpass what domineering Hippo wants.
Farley is clearly having fun in portraying Hippo, which makes Hippo’s often-repulsive actions have the comedic edge that it needs. Eliza Roberts portrays Ethel and a well-meaning but quirky parent who is somewhat clueless about her kids’ activities. Pimentel plays the Darwin character to the hilt as a complete scumbag. Considering that elements of the biblical creation theory are peppered throughout the movie, it’s no coincidence that this character is named Darwin. But make no mistake: “Hippo” is not a faith-based movie.
“Hippo” has some references to Buttercup being like Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and sexuality. And there’s another part of “Hippo” that draws parallels to the creation story in the Book of Genesis. About 15 minutes into watching “Hippo,” a viewer will know if this is the type of movie that will be too weird to keep watching, or will be weird enough to make a viewer curious to see how the story is going to end. People who watch “Buttercup” until the very end will see how much of the nastiness in the movie ends up serving a purpose.
Kinematics released “Hippo” in select U.S. cinemas on November 8, 2024.