Take 22: Behind the Scenes of Sequestered Review

“Research is critical.” “Secure financing before production.” “What’s my motivation?” When you make a film, this kind of stuff is what you will probably hear from all the crap heads trying to ruin your artistic vision. But Executive Producer, Todd Hunter (Chris Pina), doesn’t let technicalities like research, money, and actors stop him. He’s determined to make his legal drama, Sequestered, a theatrical masterpiece. To bring his dream to life Todd stops at nothing, even hustling his own grandma. He tirelessly pushes his cast and crew to the edge of breakdown in spite of a haunted location, a wandering murderer, and a cascade of Craft Service catastrophes. But in the end, the on set problems run too deep. Director Miles Tenent (Rick Overton) won’t watch the film; he’s scared of the ‘big heads’ on the screen. The cast and crew screening is a huge bomb. Sequestered will never see the light of day.

Now, after hellish weeks following the doomed production, a group of disgruntled student documentarians are out for revenge. They will dig deep to expose all the flaws and ineptitudes of Sequestered in their hilariously scathing film, Take 22: Behind the Scenes of Sequestered.

From the first scene, Take 22: Behind the Scenes of Sequestered sets a brisk comedic pace when the audience realizes that the fact they’re watching this film means Todd Hunter’s life has officially gone to hell. The plot’s pull is immediate and keeps the funny coming as the film spins further and further outside Todd’s control. Writer/director Michael Bayouth has assembled a sweet collection of actors for this orgy of bad luck, including not just Rick Overton and Chris Pina but also playful, chaotic cameos from Dave Thomas and Gary Anthony Williams, and featuring the legendary Groundlings.

Five jurors are sequestered to decide a man’s fate. In the end, it is their own fate that is sealed. Sequestered could have been an awesome film if anything, even one little thing, would have gone right. But nothing did. (Especially not the research. There are twelve people on a jury. Not five!) So now instead of suffering through Sequestered audiences can enjoy watching a fellow human being’s dreams crumble to ash in Take 22: Behind the Scenes of Sequestered.