Is there anything more painful than watching guys struggle with their “women” problems? Maybe not, but at least Four Dead Batteries, a low-budget independent film, tries to make the viewer’s experience funny as well. And why not? The four men involved just happen to be stand-up comedians with a joint improv act, and the only place where they appear to know what they’re doing is on stage together evoking laughs from their fans.

Nick (Rob Webber), Harold (Dave Zubradt), Hennessy (Benjamin Travers) and Patrick (Patrick Dall’Occhio) make up this comedy quartette. Nothing seems to be going right in the love department for any of them. Nick’s an English teacher who’s been unfaithful to his wife; Harold may be happily married but he’s scared to death of having a baby, which is what his wife desperately wants (“Judy never met a kid she didn’t want to give birth to”); Patrick has fallen for a beautiful woman yet worries about giving up his philandering ways; and the brooding, depressed Hennessy can’t seem to get over a broken engagement. When his ex asks, “Can you stop stalking me?” Hennessy replies, “I make no guarantees.”

Writer/director Hiram Martinez manages to offer poignant insights into male behavior through his main characters and their candid banter with each other. The language is a bit too graphic for me, but it certainly sounds real. Clearly, film festival audiences have responded positively to Martinez’s movie. It’s earned several awards including Best Picture (Brooklyn Digifest), the Audience Choice Award (Garden State Film Festival), Best Comedy (Philadelphia Video Festival), and Outstanding Latino Film (Sacramento International Film Festival).       

Unlike so many movies shot on digital video, Four Dead Batteries mercifully avoids total reliance on hand-held cameras. That’s probably why it’s much easier on the eyes.  I definitely appreciate this approach because jerky camera movements always make me dizzy -- and I’ll bet I’m not the only one who feels that way.    

Among the film’s DVD bonus features is an informative Advice Track for beginning filmmakers in which industry professionals “reveal the unromantic truth about filmmaking.” Issues discussed include financing, casting, press, the film festival circuit, and distribution. Audio commentaries by the filmmaker and cast, a "Making Of" featurette, trailers, bloopers and outtakes round out the DVD offerings.   

(Released by Up Past Midnight Productions and rated “R” for sexual content including graphic dialogue and language.)