"That Darn Punk" is a new movie put together by Kung Fu Records. The film stars Joe Escalante (bass player for the Vandals) in the title role of Dirk, who is the bass player for the fictional band, The Big Tippers.

This movie was shot on a budget of $21,000 and sometimes its seems that it was way less than that. I'm majoring in film sure, but as of right now in my schooling I haven't taken my major classes as of yet, so I'm sure I have no idea what I'm talking about. Talk to me in a few years and I'll know my stuff. At the beginning of the move, Dirk talks to an attractive woman backstage at one of his shows. She works for a local t.v. show and wants to use some of the Big Trippers music in the show. She totally leads him on and he agrees to it without consulting his bandmate's first. Later on Dirk and his band (The Vandals, they make a cameo here) make a video for one of their songs. They need a lead girl in the video and one is found. Dirk instantly tries to show no interest or attraction to her, but its no use. Dirk and her go back to his apartment to do "astrology readings".

At the same time Dirk has a dedicated girlfriend. She has just left for the weekend to display her artwork, so at first he feels bad for cheating on her. Just as Dirk and the mysterious girl from the video are about to have sex, his girlfriend returns early and catches them and runs out upset. This was set up from the start.

Later on he wakes up and finds himself in the middle of a desert. Over him are two hit men who are ready to kill him.

However, the hit men get into a fight with each other (each calling each other gay) and Dirk escapes.

Now I'm not going to give you the rest of the storyline, I think so far I've given a good preview that sets up the rest of the story. The rest of the movie entails Dirk meeting up with a different cast of wacky characters while hes trying to get back to LA to play his next show with the Big Trippers. Along the way he runs into the police, aliens, and other wacky characters you just have to see to believe.

The movie's strongpoint is of course the music. Any movie that has a string soundtrack featuring bands like Pennywise, Ozma, The Vandals, Lagwagon, AFI, and many others makes it more enjoyable to watch. The music is greatly scripted to the events on the screen. For example when Dirk is running from the aliens, the Pennywise song "Aliens" is played. Also when Dirk is running away from the two hit men, the Nerf Herder song, "Siegfried And Roy" is played.

"That Darn Punk" comes off being very mixed in quality. One scene may be extremely funny while another may be just plain bizarre. I'm sure thats what the makers of this film wanted, much variety in transitions along with the other aspects of the film.

Maybe to spoil some things if you haven't seen "That Darn Punk" yet, but the film ends happily!