‘Screwball’ is a true-crime documentary about the ‘Biogenesis’ scandal involving a fake doctor, his seemingly tan-addicted client/investor, and of course Alex Rodriguez.
Earlier this week, I sat down with Billy Corben to discuss his latest masterpiece, Screwball. In talking to Mr. Corben, the one thing he wanted to make clear about the film is that “it is not about Alex Rodriguez… but don’t tell him that.”
To be honest, I can’t think of a better way to describe the film because, in reality, it really isn’t about A-Rod.
In the list of great films attributed to Corben – Cocaine Cowboys, Dawgfight, The U, Broke, etc. – Screwball stands out as his greatest achievement. Why?
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Because the story is flat out absurd. I mean, just think about the untold millions of dollars that were spent on the Biogenesis scandal, which ultimately was a result of a feud over $4K between a cocaine-addicted fake doctor and his seemingly tan-obsessed client, Porter Fischer.
Then, in using children to capture the madness between the cocaine-addicted fake doctor, Porter Fischer, a multi-billion dollar monopoly in MLB, and then the highest paid athlete in American professional sports, Corben managed to illustrate how all parties acted like a bunch of… well… children.
To top things all off, the idea for this film, although perhaps unintentionally at the time, was Mr. Alex Rodriguez‘s himself. And what does A-Rod do the moment word of the film breaks the internet in the form of a trailer? According to Mr. Corben on the Joe Rogan Experience, he proposes to Jennifer Lopez, sweeping everything under the rug which surprisingly has worked out well for him lately.
Screwball is a unique documentary in that it plays more like a feature film. As Corben pointed out in the interview, Tony Bosch – the cocaine-addicted fake doctor – and Porter Fischer’s way of telling the story lent itself perfectly to the recreations depicted in the film in the form of lipsyncing children (see the trailer below).
In the end, you have yourself 1-hour and 45-minutes of absolute madness. To make things worse, it’s all true.
Screwball is playing in select theatres across the country and is available on VOD, like iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, and wherever you get your films. Don’t miss it!