Crude, dumb, mean-spirited and occasionally very funny, "My Big Fat Independent Movie" takes swipe after swipe at the pretensions of the independent film industry and, as with most crude, dumb and mean-spirited comedies, it can't help but connect here and there.

Modeled on parodies such as "Scary Movie" and "Not Another Teen Movie," and working in an even more lowbrow vein, "Big Fat" requires a certain film hipster background to make sense. If you haven't seen "Pulp Fiction," "The Good Girl," "Amelie," "Memento," "Reservoir Dogs," "Pi," "Mulholland Drive," "Swingers" and, of course, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," this movie isn't going to make a whole lot of sense.

The story, co-written by former Royal Oak dude and Film Threat magazine editor Chris Gore, involves two hit men in terrible wigs (Neil Barton and Eric Hoffman) who are on their way to botch a robbery in Las Vegas. They hook up with a swinging loser (Darren Keefe), and then on the way to Vegas, kidnap a lonely grocery store cashier (Paget Brewster).

Meanwhile, a bald genius is hiding the secret to the world's greatest corned beef sandwich from a trio of rabbis. And a man who loses his memory every few minutes is trying to find and kill smooth jazz sax player Kenny G.

"Big Fat" is the type of film in which characters are constantly commenting on their own interior monologues, plot devices keep falling out of the sky and outrageous sex references come down like rain. There are also quite a few lesbian scenes, as well as one orgy.

The point is, of course, that independent films are every bit as formulaic as mainstream films; they're just using formulas that rely on outsized violence, sex or pretense. It's hardly an earth-shattering realization, but anything that deflates the puffery of film artists is probably a positive in this world. As movies go, "My Big Fat Independent Movie" is a joke, but then it's supposed to be.

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