What Iva Recorded

You've heard of Bozo the Clown? Meet Bozo the Croatian—an inept schemer who attempts to entertain and impress a visiting German business executive at his family home with disastrous results: his stepson turns up without a promised date, so he hires a prostitute to fill in; his wife winds up spilling the shrimp dinner over the hooker; everyone gets too drunk, too loud, and too nasty; and his teenage stepdaughter—the eponymous Iva—records the chaos with her new video camera. Director Tomislav Radic's video feature looks cheaply-made, not unlike the home movie Iva is supposedly shooting (during the course of the action, Iva's camera is conveniently left atop tables as she walks away to join the onscreen fracas), but more notably this import ultimately becomes shrill, tiresome, and just plain unfunny as the bickering between the dysfunctional family members seesaws from dark humor to grim drama to broad farce. Not recommended. (P. Hall)