Pun Salad

It's kind of a slack time at Netflix, not a lot of new good movies coming out on DVD. We zipped through 13 episodes of Kevin Spacey's series House of Cards pretty quickly, and otherwise have been dipping down pretty far into the queue, a lot of older movies that slipped through the cracks, a lot of arty stuff, a lot of low-budget stuff.

Like this movie, It's A Disaster: a low-budget comedy. There are a few actors you may have seen in something else: David Cross, Julia Stiles, America Ferrera. But otherwise, the biggest budget expense might have been the hazmat suit someone shows up in.

Eight folks get together for a periodic brunch in Los Angeles; Tracy (Ms Stiles) is bringing along new boyfriend Glen (Mr. Cross). What ensues is the usual: behind-the-back sniping, warnings not to bring up certain topics with certain people, hidden romantic strife, conversational cul-de-sacs, etc. This is occasionally amusing, because the writers are clever.

But then (see the movie title, folks), it becomes apparent that all is not well in the outside world. First the Internet goes out, then phone service, then electricity. Then the guy in the hazmat suit mentioned above. And the eight sorta-friends have to deal with the fact that their lives are in mortal danger, and there's not a lot they can do about it. Things get a little crazy, and much funnier.

This is not an awful way to spend a Netflix pick.