Judging by his director’s statement, Chris Skotchdopole had bigger ideas for the allegorical “ Crumb Catcher ” than his messy debut feature pulls off. That won’t matter to the right audience who, when self-selected, ought to resemble a perfect Venn diagram of Eli Roth ’s “Knock Knock” fans and apologists for Michael Haneke’s American “ Funny Games ” remake. This bizarre four-hander drama turned psychological thriller — about newlyweds harassed on their honeymoon by a shady couple hocking a mysterious culinary invention — doesn’t quite match the filmmaker’s lofty ambition to say something.
.. anything .
..that hasn’t already been said about marital malaise and the American Dream.
Still, there’s a tasteful sort of nausea contained in Skotchdopole’s sloppy blackmail plot as chunky as it is tragicomic. Set mostly inside a nondescript rental home in upstate New York, this incohesive experiment in escalating tensions and false niceties will whet the appetite of anyone craving to be made both very uncomfortable and just a little bored. Leah (Ella Rae Peck) and Shane (Rigo Garay) hate each other.
The bride and groom might not know it yet, stiffly posing for wedding pictures and enduring the verbal encouragement of a photographer who strangely sounds like an “America’s Next Top Model” producer. The husband and wife save face, but a sea of silver wedding gifts and partygoers part to reveal a Happily Ever After saturated with arguments. Leah is a pu.