Unfortunate Fortune | Average Guy Movie Review

Todd is a man struggling under the weight of life. He's searching for help. Guidance, even. So he turns to a fortune teller. But quickly discovers that the fortune you get, might not be the one you want.

If you get a bad fortune, can you blame the fortune teller? Probably not. But as this crazy short film suggests, you might want to see how things play out, or at least check your interpretation of said fortune, before making any major life choices. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and all that. Which is certainly what Todd (Timothy J. Cox) should have done, anyway. Cox is perfectly unhinged as this man on the precipice between hope and desperation, and yet still manages to make Todd relatable. That is, to a degree.

Usually however, it isn't just the person at the centre of this kind of situation that is affected. Family members are especially vulnerable. In this case it's Todd's estranged wife Kate (Diane M. Strohm) and his father Rick (George R. Hildebrand) - a fitting reunion with Cox after they appeared together in Sundays with Dad. Both show a genuine concern, just as any of us might, when Todd begins to explain what his fortune teller told him. There is a sense of powerlessness to their performances, as if they may be too late to help him.

Many of us have been where Todd is at the start of Unfortunate Fortune. And while we may not have gone on to do exactly what he does, hoping for some good fortune, or searching for a miracle are likely to be among our first moves. So some of his actions are at the very least understandable. While Cox keeps his portrayal of Todd grounded, so that we never see him as anything more than a man. An average Joe. One that we don't actually know all that much about. Making it all the more scary to watch his behaviour slowly spiral out of control.

But this isn't just an examination of mental health issues or the proverbial drowning man. Although the ambiguity that comes with such a short runtime will undoubtedly lead audiences to speculate. And yet writer/directors Adam and Ryan Dailey have utilised every moment to carefully unravel their tale of one man's downfall, so that you can appreciate every step - or stumble - on Todd's descent into madness. While a clever play on a certain 'vision' trope not only proves to be a final - and morbidly amusing - punch to the gut, it also shows Jay Buchheim's 'Fortune Teller' to be a bit of a dick.

With Unfortunate Fortune, one man's descent into madness becomes a gripping psychological horror short. Timothy J. Cox delivers a perfectly unhinged performance, while Adam and Ryan Dailey make clever use of an incredibly tight runtime so you can appreciate every moment of it. If you take anything away from this short film, it's probably that you should avoid fortune tellers.

8/10

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