Dave Made A Maze (2017) IMDB
How many times have you sat down to watch a movie and you already know the story because you have seen it before. Take the body swap movie genre. If you have seen Freaky Friday (any version) you have a good idea what will happen in The Change-Up, 18 Again, Prelude to a Kiss, The Hot Chick and Face/Off. The thing about Dave Made a Maze is that this is a story you probably have never heard/seen (I certainly can’t think of this story in another movie). I used the website bestsimilar to find the movie most similar to this plot and it spat out Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). For me, a unique concept is what makes this a good movie. So what is this movie about ?
Dave builds a cardboard fort in his living room. It looks small from the outside, but once you enter it gets much, much larger. Dave gets lost. Dave’s friends decide to join him against his advice to stay outside. Now everyone is lost. To return to civilization they need to band together and escape the cardboard fort which is a large maze. The creativity in the story and the low budget but interesting sets are what makes this movie special. Yet, the low budget sets made of cardboard are key to the entire plot of the movie and make complete sense. You haven’t seen this, and maybe you don’t THINK you want to see this, BUT YOU NEED TO SEE THIS. Destined to be a cult classic circa 2035. Possibly 2037. I also appreciate that the runtime is a quick 80 minutes. No extra fluff, no un-needed scenes, just fun scenes to push the plot forward.
The director of this film, Bill Watterson has only 3 directing credits to his name, and this is the only full length film. I think we need a sequel for this one with Bill directing. I learned later that he is from Cleveland, Ohio, where I live most of the year. Maybe that’s why I enjoy this humor so much.
I give it a 7.5/10. You can find this movie streaming for free on many websites.
Check out this fun trailer. You will get a hint of one of the characters that pops up in the maze/movie.