When I began my work on this website for Troma, they had just announced acquiring a little film called The Hall Monitor.  After reading the plot synopsis of the film, I was quite intrigued and excited for the release of such a film, as it sounded ripe with satiric humor toward violence in the media.  It took me well over two years to finally pick the film up, even after interviewing directors Shawn Gioiosa and Kevin Hartman right before the film was to be released, but once I did, the film definitely fell short of my expectations.

At Rocky Mountain High School, there are two classes of people: high school students and the vo-tech students, and both of them are kept in line by Daniel Kashwood (Daniel Frome), the school's hall monitor.  However, unlike most hall monitors, Kashwood carries a gun, speaks like Dirty Harry, and has a "shoot first, ask questions later" attitude. The school's principal (Charles Dumas) is trying to tone down his reckless nature, despite favoring Daniel's ability to keep the hallways under control.  During one Friday, he is finally forced to take Daniel's gun away from him, much to the glee of Maurice Williams, the school's guidance counselor (Matthew Faison).  Williams (whose representation includes the obnoxious school mascot: a guy in a carrot costume) has had his eye on getting Daniel to consider his representation so he can move up to the job of principal and help out Wendy Fepper (Ursula Abbot), the most popular girl in school who desires to be romantically linked to Daniel.  When a killer starts taking out the whole school's football team on the day of the "big game", Williams finally finds his chance to put his dream into effect, by getting Daniel back his gun and getting the killer to set up the ultimate school assembly/publicity stunt.

With a concept like that, I'm amazed at how poorly The Hall Monitor is executed.  The biggest problem is that the script doesn't seem to know where to focus its attention.  Instead of making Daniel Kashwood the primary focus of the film, we're forced to endure most of the movie through the lens of the school's television program and countless unfunny segments with the school's mascot, which is a guy in a carrot costume.  Words can not describe how painfully irritating Jason Rudd portrays this character.  His character is written as a scene-stealer, so that makes his scenes somewhat understandable, but quite frankly, he shows up way too often and brings nothing to the table for the film.

Another big problem is the attempt at deadpan humor, which is the hardest style of comedy to tackle.  While The Hall Monitor certainly has a lot to say in it's attempt to compare the world of Hollywood vs. the world of independent cinema through the clever euphemism of rich high schoolers vs. Vo-Tech students, it's quite failed it's ability to make the material funny.  It's like Gioiosa and Hartman felt the concept was funny enough that the play-it-straight-because-the-situation-is-out-of-context style they attempt is enough and to keep the humor up, they threw in some genuinely lame gags and jokes that we've all seen a million times (albeit, better executed).

However, you have to give them kudos for such a clever concept.  Not only that, but they've assembled a pretty decent cast.  Dan Frome does his best job at a faux-Eastwood gruff voice, Charles Dumas plays his role incredibly well (not surprising, as he's a veteran actor of films like Deep Impact and Die Hard: With A Vengeance), and Ursula Abbot is great, not only in her acting ability, but in the eye-candy department.  Though most gags fall pretty flat, there are a few genuinely funny moments, and with the exception of the terribly hokey ending, the story's pretty well developed.

To be honest with you, I hate to give The Hall Monitor such a bad reputation, since it's release in post-Columbine America is already going to blacklist it from many viewers (though it was conceived and completed before Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made headlines).  Plus, it truly does have a clever concept that could have resulted in a brilliant film.  However, the focus seems to get lost somewhere along the way and as a result, The Hall Monitor does not come very highly recommended.  I'd suggest you NetFlix it.