Little Blue Pill

Aaron Godfred’s feature film debut, Little Blue Pill, is a raunchy indie comedy about a young man who accidentally takes Viagra like pills and experiences all the side-effects that comes with them. The plot is both simple and ridiculous yet somehow manages to keep you entertained throughout. It is full of laughs; just do not watch this with your grandma.

Stephen Cohen (Aaron Kuban) is more or less your average Portland hipster who is proud of his city for how “green” and bike friendly it is. He lives with his roommate Oscar (Adam Carr) and their relationship often consists of bickering back and forth while at the same time Oscar is watching porn.

Normally Stephen is content with using his bike as transportation, however, he has a potential grant opportunity tomorrow which he needs to dress up for. He kindly asks Oscar if he can borrow his car for the meeting. Oscar reluctantly obliges and it is at this time that he informs Stephen that a big party is going down at the house tonight.

Even though Stephen tells him that he does not want to get drunk because of the big meeting the next day, it is his sole mission to get Stephen drunk. Peer pressuring him into beer bongs and keg stands which results in a common black marker violations on your face morning.

In order to relieve him from a hangover, Lane (Rosie Tisch) who falls into the girl next door stereotype, gives him headache medicine. However, as you might expect from the title, they are instead two little blue pills called Erecta (Erectile Dysfunction pills similar to Viagra). As soon as he finds out about the mix up he starts to panic. Even though he has been friends with Lane for a long time, he tells her to go because he cannot help to look at her beautiful body.

Aside from getting an erection from her, we get the impression that Stephen might have a thing for Lane from the very beginning. At the party he tries to tell her something but is cut-off and whisked away by Oscar to do a keg stand instead. A failed opportunity to tell her how he really feels perhaps?

Giving his situation, Stephen is trying everything he can to avoid getting aroused. But he cannot seem to win. Everywhere he goes from train stops to office secretaries, he finds it difficult to reduce his sexual desires.

Meanwhile, the Erecta company is trying to perfect the pill. While they are working on the second iteration of the pill, the medical doctors realize that some of the test subjects of the first batch of test pills are experiencing some serious side effects. The company knows that the pre-trial pills were released in the Portland test market. Their mission is to make sure the news of these serious side effects does not leak out to the FDA, so they are after the pills.

Although the main plot of the film is about his problem with his aroused genitalia, there is a more serious sub-plot to it. The fact is he may be falling for his long time lady friend Lane. But finding the right time to tell her is proving to be impossible.

Because none of the cast has really acted in any major roles before, you might expect the acting to be subpar. This is not the case. The acting is superb even if the dialog is a bit over-the-top in a few spots. Aaron Kuban plays the 20-something hipster role very well and seems perfectly chosen for it.

Adam Carr’s performance as Oscar is down-right hilarious. He gets just as much, if not more, laughs than anyone else in the film. His fill-of-himself attitude, snarky remarks and sleazeball tendencies reminds you of a few big name actors such as Jonah Hill and Danny McBride. Carr may remind you of them but does not make you miss them.

The great thing about Little Blue Pill is it does not try to be more than it is; a raunchy indie comedy. It does not take itself too seriously. Aaron Godfred did not need to break the bank to get laughs, he relies on his no-name actors to sell his story, which they do. It is not flawless and most definitely is mindless but for a directorial debut it is completely watchable.