Sometimes a seemingly clever idea isn't enough. Rubber is a film that has been riding a wave of post-festival buzz for months, mostly due to the very simple, quirky premise: a car tire comes to life and starts killing people. It's the "killer tire" movie, an idea that sounds like it should be a lot of fun, a schlocky B-level splatterfest to be enjoyed and soon forgotten. But that's not what we get. Instead, Quentin Dupieux, the entertainer jack-of-all-trades known as Mr. Oizo, dreams up a boring, laughless stab at the indie highbrow. Who the hell wants to see that?
The film starts off in irritating fashion, with an ornery local sheriff directly asking us a series of random movie questions that barely stretch above the level of "Why did the chicken cross the road"? His answer to all of these questions is "No reason", a pat explanation for the absurdity to come. He and his assistant,the mysterious Accountant, hand out binoculars to group of folks who are literally watching the film unfold from a distance. What they're seeing is the story of Robert, a tire that gains sentience and rises out of the desert sand. He rolls along cheerfully enough, I think(it's hard to tell since he's a tire and all), until he gets a little agitated. Or curious. Or whatever. Then he starts to vibrate and hummmmmm...then stuff starts blowing up. First it's bottles, then it's scorpions, birds. It isn't long before he starts turning his telekinetic Goodyear brain on humans.
All except one. Robert becomes obsessed with a hot French chick(the woeful and bored looking Roxane Mesquida) he sees drive by. From there on the film becomes the weirdest, most unfulfilling romance you'll ever see, as Robert attempts to find her while simultaneously killing pretty much everyone she comes in contact with.
Rubber should be a heck of a lot more fun than it is. Unfortunately the breaking of the 4th wall quickly grows tiresome(no pun intended). It'd be one thing if the characters had anything interesting or clever to say, but they don't. The thrill of watching a car tire blow stuff up fades pretty quickly, and without that all you have is material for a 30-minute short film at best.
