Snakes in a Boardroom (2007)

Director: Paul DeNigris
Stars: Lindsey Marlin, Brian Ronalds, Steve Briscoe and Bruce Nelson

The most obvious downside to Snakes in a Boardroom is that you can write it yourself just from the title. Yes, it's exactly what you expect: Steve Briscoe is back as a clueless exec at Pairemup Studios who wants his less clueless assistants, played by Lindsey Marlin and Brian Ronalds, to conjure up something to cash in on the success of Snakes on a Plane. It gets silly, very silly, not that you expect anything different. The most obvious upside to Snakes in a Boardroom is that it somehow succeeds in being funny nonetheless. It's funnier than Saturday Night Live nowadays, but then again I'm not sure if that has any meaning any more. Briscoe co-wrote the script with Mitch Abbott and director Paul DeNigris and what I wonder most is how drunk they all were at the time. This could be an example of a picture that doesn't have a 'making of' documentary to go with it as the two films would be exactly the same except for the presence of beer in the latter.

The fourth face in Snakes in a Boardroom is Bruce Nelson, who has a blast acting out brief snippets from each theorised cash-in that the Pairemup trio come up with. No, he doesn't do anything remotely surprising, but yes, he's funny as all get out and I'd happily pay to see him in Beavers on a Bullet Train, if only we weren't five years too late for it to be remotely topical. Given that this short was made in 2007, it was already running a little late, which has to be the reason why it didn't go viral on YouTube. I checked. I was only the 21,176th viewer, which is nowhere near enough and kids wouldn't understand it today. After all, Snakes on a Plane would probably seem like the height of imagination in a world where Hollywood is adapting Battleships for the big screen, remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show and indulging in a bidding war for the rights to Asteroids. Too much material, too little time...