‘Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie’: not like other girls

I was one of the few in New York to have witnessed Tim Savage’s new movie, “Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie.” Skweezy Jibs, an internet personality created by Savage, is known for his high-energy videos on TikTok and Instagram. Savage is currently on a 60-city North American Tour to help promote his movie, “Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie,” a mockumentary style firm with in-person Q&As and appearances. 

I had the opportunity to attend AMC Maple Ridge’s production of “Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie,” this past Saturday, and it can only be described by using his own words, “literally ‘John Wick’ plus ‘Magic Mike’ plus ‘Transformers’ plus ‘The Fast and the Furious.’” Savage has no previous movie production skills and while it had a very amateur-style execution, it surprisingly still worked. The movie does not take itself seriously, yet it works beautifully to counteract the idea of it being another “influencer cash-grab.”

I have been a long time Skweezy Jibbs fan, but I had expected yet another trashy cash-grab. I was pleasantly surprised to find a movie with depth. The movie is a film within a film: We follow Jibbs with no money nor any experience, on a journey to create a movie titled, “The Ballad of Ricky Santandolo,” featuring Ricky Santandolo — a stripper who owes money to the Russian mob — on a mission to rescue his son from this aforementioned mob that is led by Sandy “Mr. Poop” Wormhole. During the process of making such an excessive movie, Jibbs is faced with countless financial and social issues as he tries to create the next cinematic masterpiece in order to gain the love from his drug-addicted, narcissistic mother and feel as though he has done something worthwhile in his life.  

Though the film jokes about Savage having only raised about $80K for the shooting of his movie, it’s very clear that the budget was much higher. The mix of professional cinematography and amateur documentary-style filming was perfect and convincing throughout most of the movie. The movie itself was not the only delight — having met Savage was the highlight of the night for many people in the audience. Despite playing a comedic internet personality online, Savage truly shows his worth as an actor by somehow managing to maintain this persona whilst giving it some humanity; one could completely forget the ridiculousness of ‘Skweezy Jibbs’ and empathize with him throughout the darker parts of the movie and feel as though that same character they see on screen is the man calling them “homey” on the stage.

It can be very possible to find humor and enjoyment in the movie without knowing anything there is to know about Savage prior, though prior knowledge does enhance the experience significantly.

The humor was unexpectedly crude, to say the least. The site claims that the movie is for ages 13 plus but this does not seem to be the case as the movie had many scenes featuring sex toys, a fake sex scene and a scene where a stripper is featured in a tiger print thong. Though there was no real nudity or true violence, it was teetering on the edge, and it would be an understatement to say that it was more appropriate to not see any children in the audience. 

All in all, I would highly recommend anyone with the means to go see Savage's movie premier as he makes his way across the country from now until September.

The arts desk can be reached at arts@ubspectrum.com