Directed by Roe Moore and written by star Andrew Mena, they say; “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” What’s important is: they’re right. But what truly belongs on the breakfast table and would you fight for what’s right…for breakfast? Starring: Mike Abbate, Andrew Mena, Amanda Romeo, Lucy Slavin and Gavin Velez.
Within our modern society hypocrisies tend to run rampant and one of the examples which is absolutely nonsensical is well captured by Breakfast Salad. The combination of people delighting in the chance to be outraged about anything but also being entirely flaky, flip-flopping and non-committal. It’s genuinely ridiculous how people can often find the tiniest, inconsequential things to be filled to the brim with anger over, then the next second change their mind, typically when they get more facts. Roe Moore and Andrew Mena portray that to a tee, wrapped in a nicely comedic package.
Another great choice which does a wonderful job of matching the highly exaggerated tone is using a reality TV, mockumentary style to the direction and editing. Moving back and forth between in the moment and individual interviews, unpacking the details and giving different perspectives. It works really well, hugely strengthens the comedy and adds a strong note of sarcasm which is certainly appreciated. It’s massively injected with energy, drama and not a single thing about it is either calm or collected, exactly as intended.
Of course, it’s another big advantage to fill the cast with actors who have comedy backgrounds and know exactly how to play this up. They hit the tone of exactly what you’d expect for a group of adults in a ‘breakfast club’ with very particular tastes. The exaggeration is right where it needs to be, it’s loud but not too in your face. Writer Andrew Mena’s performance hits that easily triggered level of anger especially well. While Amanda Romeo and Gavin Velez get a couple of nice and slick lines of dialogue in there that round out the comedy strongly.
Breakfast Salad is a funny, enjoyable take on our obsessive, outrage inclined society. Roe Moore really hits those reality TV, mockumentary notes nice and hard, leaning into the ridiculous nature of the story. The cast are all plenty heated and know how to take things over the top without straying into overtly silly territory. It’s well made to stick to those handful of minutes while making an entertaining point about people today and hitting plenty of comedy notes.
FilmCarnage.com 