With the success of 1999’s micro-budgeted Blair Witch Project, amateur filmmakers all over the place started to believe that they could create the next blockbuster over a few weekends. Part of the beauty of Project came from the effortless quality of the film, but it clearly ain't that easy, as aspiring auteur Mark Borchardt learned.

Borchardt acts as the subject of American Movie, an engaging and often hilarious documentary that follows his desperate attempts to make his own hit movie. A high school dropout and unmarried father of three kids who goes from being a paperboy to working as a janitor in a cemetery, Borchardt keeps hope alive that eventually he will make it big as a movie director.

I>Movie follows part of this quest, as Borchardt attempts to bring his no-budget, obviously-autobiographical opus Northwestern to the screen. Of course, plenty goes wrong along the way, which makes the documentart so entertaining, and it helps that Borchardt and many of his friends and family are very interesting characters.

In fact, at times I could scarcely believe that Movie wasn't fictional. Mark and some of the others seem so unusual in so many ways that it feels hard to swallow people like that actually exist.

Not that I question the veracity of the events, because I'm sure everything's real. It's just that Mark and the others often seem so much like someone's comedic idea of these kinds of working class people.

This impression feels more prevalent during the first section of the movie, when the goofiness of Mark's personality nearly overwhelms the events. Supporting characters like his recovering stoner buddy Mike, and insanely-curmudgeonly Uncle Bill add to the comedic sense of unreality.

However, as the film continues, a greater sense of depth appears through the characters. Though they definitely still remain funny and unusual, they also come across as more full-blooded and real.

Before I saw Movie, I'd read some comments about it and got the impression that its subjects might be treated shabbily at times, as if the filmmakers strongly enhanced the buffoonish nature of these folks. While I can see how that easily could have happened, I don't think it occurs here.

Yes, a lot of very funny stuff happens throughout the movie, and almost none of it was intentional, but I didn't feel like I was laughing at the participants. I rarely thought, "man, what a loser!" or any similar sentiment.

That's because I feel that Movie imbues its characters with enough reality and heart that I empathize with them. My life differs substantially from Mark's.

Other than the fact I too made Super 8 movies as a kid and I've experienced a less-than-successful romantic life, I don't have a whole lot in common with him. Nonetheless, I could get into his ambition and his dream and I could understand his take on life.

To watch Mark's quest can be exciting and inspiring but it also seems rather frustrating. I empathize with his desire to be more than "just" a factory worker and his attempt to make an impression creatively, but I also occasionally wanted to slap him around and bring him back to reality.

Dreams and aspirations are great, but when they make you neglect your responsibilities, they become hindrances. Mark definitely treads the line precariously, especially as it regards his three kids.

Mark seems to truly love his children. However, we also learn he's behind on child support, and it's questionable how well he can care for them when he's so deeply in debt due to his obsession.

At times, Mark does feel like a loser. He drinks too much, he seems not terribly bright, and he appears ridiculously unappreciative of all the help friends and family extend to him.

Still, I couldn't help but root for the guy. American Movie tells his story in a wonderfully entertaining and compelling way.

American Movie appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Did a 16mm documentary from the 1990s need the Dolby Vision 4K treatment? Probably not, but the movie offered a positive image nonetheless.

Inevitably, sharpness varied, as we got more than a few moderately soft shots. These resulted from the “on the fly” photography and the resolution of the format, though, and most of the film brought us pretty good delineation.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized. Grain felt natural and I saw no edge haloes.

Colors went with a natural and fairly subdued palette that reproduced the tones as intended. HDR added a little kick to the hues but the photography limited that impact.

Blacks seemed dark and tight, while low-light shots offered reasonable clarity. Whites and contrast got a minor boost from HDR, though again, the nature of the original material meant this didn’t turn into a big jump. Never a visual showpiece, the 4K still represented the source well.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA monaural soumdtrack, it seemed passable but unexceptional. Actually, it sounded good but lost points just because we expected more from films in 1999, a time when multichannel audio had become the norm.

That said, the monaural orientation worked fine for the tale at hand. I just didn’t feel comfortable with an above-average audio grade for a single-channel track from 1999.

In any case, quality seemed fine. Dialogue always appeared warm and natural, so while a few lines betrayed some slight distortion, speech largely sounded fine.

Effects all came from the source - American Movie is a documentary, after all - and seemed clear and realistic. Music provided a minor aspect of the mix until the ending credits, as those featured Sammy Davis's version of "Mr. Bojangles".

Until then, we solely heard occasional tunes plinked out by Mike Schank on his acoustic guitar. These stayed largely in the background and seemed clean and smooth enough. Again, this offered an unambitious track, but it worked just fine for the material.

As we shift to extras, we find Coven, the 36-minute, 20-second film that Borchardt completes during the course of American Movie. It'd be an extreme overstatement to say that Coven's good.

Honestly, it'd be an extreme overstatement to say it's anything other than terrible. I still was happy to see it, though, especially since it receives so much focus during American Movie itself.

By the way, in case my main review gives the impression that Coven or any of Borchardt's work intended to milk those Blair Witch Project megabucks, that's not the case. Northwestern and Coven were in production well before we ever heard of 1999's surprise hit.

We also get an audio commentary from director/producer Chris Smith, producer Sarah Price and film subjects Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank. All four sit together for a running, screen-specific look at the logistics of the documentary’s creation and the experiences of Mark and Mike.

I can't call this a great track but it becomes generally interesting. We get to hear a bit about what happened after the completion of the documentary.

We also find some extra information about the events depicted. Nothing here ever makes this a fascinating chat, but it comes with enough substance to merit a listen.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find 22 deleted scenes as well. These occupy a total of 36 minutes, 56 seconds of clips.

Overall, they're fairly interesting and fun, and they make for a nice complement to the film itself, though it's often obvious why they were cut. For example, "ADR In the Bathroom" works on its own but would have seemed redundant in the finished product because it seems too much like the (funnier) scene in which Uncle Bill performs endless takes of his dialogue.

I view it as a missed opportunity that the 2024 4K didn’t bring any new extras, mainly because it would be interesting to catch up with Mark and the rest of the “cast” 25 years later.

A look at an ambitious but hapless amateur filmmaker, American Movie provides a consistently entertaining affair. While we certainly laugh at the participants, we nonetheless see their humanity and they become more than just cartoons. The 4K UHD brings more than acceptable picture and audio as well as a few quality bonus features. 4K might be overkill for this particular project, but at least the flick looks and sounds as good as possible.