Jake's Redemption Story

Jake's Redemption Story

Bruce Von Stiers

Yellow Bird is a comedy about a guy who once was successful, but is now a stockboy at a grocery store. He has marital trouble and a young boss who is a jerk. And he has a talking garden gnome that gives him grief.

Jake Rush was once a top public relations guy. He had a pretty wife and all the social climbing trappings. But life happens and he's now trying to make ends meet by working at a grocery store whose name is Yellow Bird. And he is struggling with his sobriety.

Jake still has the wife, but there is definitely trouble in marital paradise. The film opens with Jake in his car, shaving. A bird poops on his shirt through a broken sunroof on the car. This seems to set the tone for a sad sack kind of man who just can't seem to get ahead.

Jake is played by Angus Benfield. He has been seen in shows such as NCIS: Los Angeles and in films including A Fire Within and Motorvation. Benfield directed the film and also served as one of the film's producers. Other members of the cast and crew were part of the production process as well.

At first I thought the film was a bit goofy with the gnome talking to Jake. But I fairly quickly came to the conclusion that the gnome was actually Jake's subconscious mind taking him to task over his life and his life's decisions. The gnome was voiced by Brian Doyle-Murray. From Caddyshack to Spongebob Squarepants, Doyle-Murray has a vast amount of screen credits.

Jake's wife is Ellie. She thinks Jake is a loser because he came back to his hometown to take care of his mother, who has Alzheimer's. Ellie is filming a reality show, detailing her life. Ena O'Rourke is Ellie. She has been in Farm To Fork To Love, Hashtag Blessed: The Movie and several other films.

Jake is about to get a break. His boss, Scotty, wants him to meet the store's owner. Jake might be able to move up in the grocery world. Possibly at a different store. But things turn out better than expected as Jake becomes his store's manager and Scotty is relegated to a lower role. Scotty is played by Michael Maclane. He had a recurring role on The Young and the Restless and was recently in an episode of The Rookie: Feds. The store's owner, who just happens to be Scotty's dad, Lawrence, is played by Scott King.

In amongst all this stuff with the store, there are scenes with Jake's mom, Rachel, and also with his friend, Krystal. Rachel is played by Kathy Garver. From Family Affair to Canaan Land, Garver has almost a hundred screen credits. Krystal is played by Plastic Martyr, whose previous films include Scumbag and Battle For Pandora.

There are a lot of different bits and pieces in the film that might not seem to fit together at first. But they actually fit well. Jake's friendship with a young co-worker, Becky, proves to be a sticking point that Ellie might exploit for the divorce. Jake's other co-workers, including Tigger and Paula, are sympathetic to Jake's plight. And after Jake becomes store manager, the changes he makes are met with a lot of enthusiasm. Especially as Jake wants to film a commercial for the store featuring all of the workers. Britt Crisp is Becky. She has been featured in several short films and feature films including Temporary, Like A Virus. Pam Renall is Tigger. ColoradoLand and Moonlight Soul are two of the films that she has been in. Shannon K. Dunn is Paula. She has been in television and films from Sabrina The Teenage Witch to Land of Dreams.

Also featured in the film are McKayla Audrey Morris, Jordan Nees and Thomas W. Ashworth as Vinnie, a mob styled attorney. Dallas Schaefer is Jake's co-worker, Howie, Tom Kearney is Steve, Jake's long time friend and Kendall Bryant, Jr. is Freddy the Butcher. There was also John-Peter Cruz, Justin S. McDavitt, Simeon Chard, Yanni Walker, Melissa Disney, Sara Taskinen and Katelyn Alexander. Shanna Franceschini had a small role but also served as the film's art director.

Christopher Hawthorn oversaw the music for the film. Cliff Goldsmith was the cinematographer. Unfallen and Heaven are two of the films that he worked on as cinematographer. He also did the editing for this film.

Tony Jerris wrote the screenplay. Losing Sight and Tell Veronica are two films that he wrote screenplays for. He also co-wrote the play The Littlest Witch with Corinne Aquilina, who wrote a song featured in this film. The production designer for the film was Ruth Benfield. She is the co-founder of the film's main production company, Bridge and Acorn Entertainment.

There were a couple of really good songs that were featured in the film. The first one was Where Do I Go From Here. It is the song I mentioned earlier having been written by Corinne Aquilina. The song was performed by Jim Drew. The second was Yellowbird. It was written and performed by Ruth Benfield and Scott Oatley.

There is a bunch of other things that happens in the film that I could talk about. But, let me just say that the film is basically about a guy who's going nowhere in his life and gets a chance to redeem himself. And by doing so, gets to help some other people along the way. The film has been compared to the quirkiness of The Office and the bizarre family dynamics of Schitt's Creek. While I don't know that I would completely agree with those comparisons, this is a comedy with quirky characters. And Jake's marriage to Ellie is tragically comical.

I wasn't sure that I was going to like Yellow Bird. But I found that I really enjoyed it. It is a comedy but has a lot of subtle angst. You can't help but sympathize with Jake and all he is going through.

The film won the Best Comedy award at the 2023 Los Angeles IFS Film Festival. For his role as the gnome, Brian Doyle-Murray won a Best Supporting Actor award at the same festival.

The film is currently available on Tubi, Amazon Prime or AppleTV.

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