Worried? Anxious? Depressed? You may need something Special (Specioprin Hydrochloride)™. One dose of this antidepressant will put a smile on your face: trouble is, side effects include delusions of being a caped crusader...
That’s the premise that drives Special, a leftfield indie comedy about a depressed traffic warden (Michael Rapaport) who pill-pops the Prozac-substitute and ends up thinking he can levitate and walk through walls. He can’t, of course, but that doesn’t stop him from heading out into LA to fight street crime. Described by writer/director duo Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore as Jackass crossed with a superhero story, Special never gets much beyond Rapaport running into walls, throwing himself off buildings and bleeding. It’s deliriously delusional, but the story’s deeper asides – on urban loneliness and mental health – get lost in the zero to hero slapstick.
