Finders Keepers
Directed by: Bryan Carberry, J. Clay Tweel
Documentary - 82 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 23 Sep 2015
Documentary - 82 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 23 Sep 2015
A tale of two hillbillies. It was the best of reality TV, it was the worst of reality TV. Many folks recall the odd local news story out of North Carolina where a man bought a smoker from of a self-storage auction, opened it up back home, and found a leg. What should have been a 90 second last news story of the day on the 11 o’clock news is now a full-fledged documentary charting the leg’s finder, the leg’s original owner, and the ensuing carnival. All the while thinking there is not enough material here for a full-length film, co-directors Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel cover just enough madness to almost make Finders Keepers a worthwhile watch.
Anyone who found a leg in a second-hand grill would have just turned it over to the first cop to respond to the 911 call and left it at that. The brief episode would make fantastic dinner conversation. The problem is, not just anyone came across the leg, Shannon Whisnant did. It is difficult to describe Shannon as an actual human being. Here is a man from rural North Carolina with Hollywood dreams in his eyes; if only he could catch his big break.
Anyone who found a leg in a second-hand grill would have just turned it over to the first cop to respond to the 911 call and left it at that. The brief episode would make fantastic dinner conversation. The problem is, not just anyone came across the leg, Shannon Whisnant did. It is difficult to describe Shannon as an actual human being. Here is a man from rural North Carolina with Hollywood dreams in his eyes; if only he could catch his big break.
Shannon decides the leg is going to his ticket to fame, fortune, TV, and eventually, the movies. He wants to turn to the leg into a tourist attraction charging three bucks for adults and one dollar for kids. I can just imagine the line outside his house now. Shannon prints shirts with a leg on a barbecue, tells all his friends to call him the foot man, foot for short, and acquires a personalized license plate labeling his car as FTSMOKER. Not surprising in the least to the audience but shocking the hell out of Shannon, the cops confiscate the leg and drop it off at the nearest funeral home.
So, where did the leg come from? It belongs, I suppose, to the gentleman it was removed from, John Wood. John comprises the other half of Finders Keepers. The leg was amputated after a small plane crash, he wanted to keep it and bury it later on with him or as a memorial to his father who died in the plane crash. His intentions for the leg are never quite clear. However, when he failed to pay the bill on his self-storage unit, his intentions, and leg went out the window.
Neither Shannon nor John is what you would call a steady nine-to-five worker. They have daytime TV written all over them. Shannon even appeared on a Jerry Springer episode. John spiraled out of control after the plane crash, developed serious narcotic addictions, and was living under a bridge when all of this attention suddenly fell on him. Shannon involved the courts in the dispute over ownership of the leg, and in true fashion, Shannon’s version of the ‘courts’ was TV’s Judge Mathis.
Neither Shannon nor John is what you would call a steady nine-to-five worker. They have daytime TV written all over them. Shannon even appeared on a Jerry Springer episode. John spiraled out of control after the plane crash, developed serious narcotic addictions, and was living under a bridge when all of this attention suddenly fell on him. Shannon involved the courts in the dispute over ownership of the leg, and in true fashion, Shannon’s version of the ‘courts’ was TV’s Judge Mathis.
Finders Keepers keeps the film’s first half light with everyone declaring how crazy the whole matter is and Shannon entertaining all of us with his brilliant one-liners. “He is its birth owner, but I still feel I own it.” “I’m pretty smart, I’m sure ya’ll have figured that out by now.” “Yeah, I’m crazy, but good crazy.” “When it comes to comedy, I’m sort of like Eddie Murphy Raw and well, several others.” My personal favorite is when he confuses the words transpire and perspire, a feat his accomplishes more than once with, “Let’s see what will perspire.”
You think the filmmakers are making fun of Shannon and John but they are ones sitting in front of the camera coming up with all of this. The film's second half turns serious and follows John’s addictions and Shannon’s tumble into some serious delusions. The directors lace all of the melodrama with piano chords and the type of background music you would hear behind the latest episode of The Bachelor as someone describes their anguish over getting kicked off the show.
Finders Keepers is only possible because the leg fell into the grasp of the one man on Earth who would attempt to exploit if for fame. At one point, Shannon is on the phone with a TV producer saying he can cry on demand and he is sure his name is famous in Hollywood right now for his genius with the leg. I’m not sure who I have more sympathy for, the guy who lost his father and leg, or the guy convinced the leg is his ticket to the big time. I’ll agree with John’s sister who sums up the whole situation with some effective quotes of her own. “It’s just fuckery and shenanigans.”
Finders Keepers is only possible because the leg fell into the grasp of the one man on Earth who would attempt to exploit if for fame. At one point, Shannon is on the phone with a TV producer saying he can cry on demand and he is sure his name is famous in Hollywood right now for his genius with the leg. I’m not sure who I have more sympathy for, the guy who lost his father and leg, or the guy convinced the leg is his ticket to the big time. I’ll agree with John’s sister who sums up the whole situation with some effective quotes of her own. “It’s just fuckery and shenanigans.”
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