With the impending Y2K apocalypse fast approaching, Abbie is faced with the ultimate challenge – the unbeatable level 256 on Pac-Man – and he can’t get off the couch until he conquers it. A survival story set in a living room.

Abbie (Joshua Burge) is a typical shirtless loser crashing on his older brother, Cam’s (David Dastmalchian) couch. Slouched, oily with sweat, Abbie is facing life on the streets if he doesn’t agree to a final challenge of skill as decreed by his bossy sibling. The challenge? Abbie must document himself making it to the 256th level of the classic video game Pac-Man. The monetary gain would be a savory $100,000 as announced by Video Game Charleton Billy Mitchell in a magazine contest. Cam leaves Abbie to his couch-bound quest and heads off to an extended New Years Getaway with the rest of their family.

The stage is set for the main arc of the new film RELAXER from writer-director Joel Potrykus. Y2K is on its way, Abbie may not have a place to live after the new year, and he has a nearly impossible task of making it to level 256 on Pac-Man. As Abbie is confined to the grime-soaked couch he is tasked with navigating a litany of distractions, visitors, and elements. Burge is wonderful as the nerd with a goal, yet the film only occasionally works despite a painfully slow pace and, well, yes. The movie is gratuitously slow.

As Abbie struggles through the consumption-driven game labyrinth on the square screen in front of him is assaulted by distractions including a sadistic friend, a former co-worker, and a janitor that needs to fumigate for bugs. So why doesn’t writer-director Joel Potrykus‘s single location film work? The lethargic, indulgent focus on the slower moments murders any hope that this pic has at being interesting.

Let’s be clear. Burge does more than his share of work, trying to keep the audience engaged with an empathetic, bug-eyed performance driven by the need for validation and ultimate redemption. Damn that Linklatter pacing though. With RELAXER we suffer through the painfully slow observational tangents depicting Abbie’s surreal struggle to obtain food and water while sitting on a couch, his connections with former friends and co-workers, and his redemption within his family.

If you are down with surreal indie period pieces about Y2K that feature solid performances and bland pacing then RELAXER is your jam.

RELAXER hits cinemas this Friday, March 22nd, and opens in NYC on March 29th.