Film Review: Cheese Bait

Cheese Bait
Director: Tucker Rountree
Salad Bar Healthy
In Theaters: 08.15.2025

It’s always seemed reductive to me when people think something is good just for being low-budget and local. When something is truly good, it’ll transcend its budget constraints. Eraserhead, for example, was made with 10 thousand dollars accumulated over the course of an on-again, off-again, five year production.

Tucker Rountree’s Cheese Bait was made with a similar budgetary constraint. Cheese Bait follows the exploits of one Tommy D. (played by Rountree), an aggressively Italian-American singer á la Frank Sinatra, except that he and his band are terrible. One day, after having his heart broken, he decides to travel from Chicago to Las Vegas to play a show that he lied his way into.

There are a handful of scenes that are well-paced, funny and beautiful. A random dance sequence in the middle stood out to me: A blue and pink sunset illuminates a snow-capped Utah mountain range behind Tommy D. and his sidekick Stevie (Joshua Mayo) as they create a dance number next to their rust bucket.

However, Cheese Bait’s biggest problem is Tommy D. Tommy is, from scene one, annoying and unlikable enough that I could not find it in myself to laugh, even if what he says would be funny in a more stripped-back version of the script. Therein lies another problem: I don’t know if Cheese Bait was scripted. I cannot tell. Cheese Bait is a staggeringly short 90 minutes, but it feels like 10 hours, and that’s because scenes go on for eternity.

I read an IMDb review for the film — the only IMDb review of the film — that claims this was a surrealist choice. Of this I am unsure. There are so many repeated in-jokes and gags, whose charm wears off on the second go-around, only for there to be a third or fifth iteration. Tommy is particularly egregious, constantly repeating, “What are you doing with your life?” or saying, in many permutations, “Tee-Vees, VC-ahhs, cahh radio, Kenny Ghee Cee-Dees, gold whaatches.” This makes me think most of Cheese Bait was an improvisation from a bare-bones script.

While you’re watching this, you’re subjected to strange editing choices where things are randomly zoomed in on because a shot was not dedicated to the moment. Often the light is too low for the camera, so the ISO is bumped up to astronomical numbers, making the film grainy and illegible. The sound is mixed in such a way that the dialogue or music will peak. Sometimes the music overpowers the dialogue, making the jokes inaudible. 

Before the screening, I had the pleasure to meet Rountree — the writer, director, star, composer, producer, cinematographer and editor —  and he is a funny, talented and well-traveled person. He worked on film sets from a young age, and named David Lynch and the Coen Brothers as his major inspirations (he actually met the latter duo). He played with Beach Fossils and started his band Total Slacker in 2008. Having spent the last couple of days listening to Total Slacker, I can say that I love his music. Even the music in Cheese Bait, which is supposed to be comically bad, is really good! It is definitely the best part of the film.

That said, Cheese Bait, as a whole, is far from Rountree’s greatest work. Is it inspirational that it even exists? Absolutely. I think more things being made by people and not corporations is a net positive for the flow of creativity and ideas in a culture, especially in a place like Salt Lake City. Should we lower our expectations for these works of art? No. Maybe we can lower our technical expectations (these films don’t have quite enough budget to make spectacle their forefront) but our creative expectations, if anything, should be heightened. 

There is no one telling Rountree to do anything except Rountree. I am so happy that this premiered in a movie theater at all, and Brewvies was the perfect place to see Cheese Bait. A beer boosts your enjoyment of the film tenfold. The audience seemed to be having a good time, laughing through the entire runtime. —B. Allan Johnson

Read more films reviews from B. Allan Johnson:
Film Review: Friendship
Film Review: Paddington in Peru