Convicts & Chocolate

Warning – this review may contain spoilers

Convicts & Chocolate is a parody mashup of Forrest Gump and Con Air, blending two iconic films into a quirky, comedic short. BJ Whimpey takes on the role of Forrest Gump, while Ryan McDonald plays Vince Larkin. The premise of merging these two contrasting stories is intriguing, but I found the execution a bit uneven. While BJ Whimpey does a solid job mimicking Forrest’s mannerisms and speech, the overall narrative felt disjointed. The humor, although aiming to be outlandish, came off as more gimmicky than clever, making it difficult for me to stay engaged. The mashup itself didn’t fully gel, with jarring transitions and moments that felt abrupt, particularly when characters like the prisoner who bites Forrest appeared and then vanished without much explanation.

Technically speaking the film had several strong points. The lighting looked great and the framing work captured the emotional interactions very well. However, the sound quality dipped in several places, with echoes and graininess making it hard to hear dialogue clearly. Parts of the final edit had moments that were choppy and disrupted the story’s flow.

The concept of combining these two films was interesting and I can see how it might appeal to fans that love parodies, but the inconsistent execution left me wanting more. To borrow from Forest Gump, Parodies are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.