UNHUNG HERO

Stars: Patrick Moote, Annie Sprinkle, Dan Savage.
Director: Brian Spitz.

Rating: 4/5

Director Brian Spitz’s wildly entertaining international odyssey to define the nature of the relationship we share with our most schizophrenic organ draws many cogent conclusions, not least of which is that the size of one’s penis will always be second to the size of one’s heart as a man’s defining body part.

The warm, bittersweet journey of comedian Patrick Moote begins when his Jumbo-vision wedding proposal is knocked back, only to have further insult added to injury when his girlfriend announces (ultimately to the world, via a viral YouTube posting) that she said no because his penis was too small.

Set in motion is a man’s quest to learn more about that most enigmatic of appendages. Initially, Moote revisits past lovers who confirm, with varying degrees of shock and honesty, that yes, he is relatively small (oddly, he never fully reveals his manhood for the camera); he approaches strangers in the street to ask if size is of consequence to the average woman (as well as gay and straight men); he even reveals the reasons behind his break-up to his parents, sibling and childhood friends, in some of the film’s most tummy-tightening moments. Following the lead set by the likes of Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore, Moote suffers for his art by subjecting himself to ‘enlargement methods’ such as pumps, pills and a stretching technique called ‘jelqing’ (Google it, kids…).

Having maintainined a playful tone throughout its first half, with Moote proving a game, likable subject and his steady voice-over providing personal insight, the film turns slightly more serious when the crew jet to Asia and the prospect of penile enhancement day surgery in Korea, needles filled with tribal lotions in Papua New Guinea and genital weights as prescribed by masters of the martial art of Qigong all become very real.

It is in Spitz’s third act that Unhung Hero reveals itself to be both a powerful character study and a revealing commentary on the manipulated, inherently false image of the penis in our society. Moote is shaken by just how much self-worth he has unknowingly placed upon perception of his size, largely based upon the pornification of western culture over the last half-century; credit to the production for rightly acknowledging that women have had to deal with societal issues regarding breast size for a lot longer than men have had to confront self-image problems.

Punny title aside, Unhung Hero emerges as a thoroughly winning and subtly serious story of one man’s emotional redemption via an immersive period of personal examination. That it should also reveal the depths to which our environment and society dictate our very sense of self is both enlightening and gently heartbreaking. Ending on a high with one of the best last lines in a movie in years, Spitz and Moote have crafted a thoughtful crowdpleaser.

Unhung Hero will screen as part of the Sydney Underground Film Festival on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of September. Tickets and further details here.  

Comments

[Leann]

Amazing movie . Im glad it ended the way it did .good choices Patrick you seem like an amazing smart talented man
It was that girls loss and you are someone else's future...not to mention you are adorable and super sexy