Before MCU & ‘Superman’ James Gunn Starred in a Wild Mockumentary You Can Currently Watch on Amazon Prime Video

James Gunn might be best known today as the man behind Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad, and the upcoming Superman. But before he was leading huge superhero movies, he was part of a much smaller, stranger project, a 2004 mockumentary called LolliLove.

LolliLove was directed by Jenna Fischer, who also co-wrote and starred in it alongside Gunn, her husband at the time. The movie is a sharp, awkward comedy about a rich Southern California couple who decide to “help” the homeless in their own misguided way. Their big idea? Handing out lollipops with cheerful slogans printed on the wrappers.

The cast includes several familiar faces. Gunn plays James. Fischer plays Jenna. Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Judy Greer, and even cult filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman make appearances. Most of them play exaggerated versions of themselves.

Fischer told St. Louis Magazine that she began with a loose plot outline and then had friends over to act out scenes while she filmed them. “At that point, all of the dialogue was improvised. I gave very general character notes and people just ran with it,” she said. She used the recordings to shape the script, but still kept room for improvisation during filming. “Some of our best stuff is improvised,” Fischer explained.

The movie blurs the line between fact and fiction. It was filmed inside Fischer and Gunn’s real home. Their characters share their real names. They even used footage from their actual wedding. The budget was tiny, just $1,500, and filming took only 12 days. It premiered at the St. Louis International Film Festival in 2004 before showing at a few other festivals. Troma Entertainment released it on DVD in 2006.

Critics were pleasantly surprised. They called it “spot-on satire” and “chuckle-packed and satisfyingly tasteless.” Film Threat said it was “so damned believable that it’s difficult, at times, to watch” and compared Fischer’s work to that of Christopher Guest. DVDTalk even called it “one of the best films of the year — a riotous comedy about charity and the homeless.”

The movie is short, about 65 minutes, but it manages to poke fun at self-absorbed charity work and the people who do it for attention. Gunn and Fischer’s chemistry and the improvised style give it a scrappy, unpolished feel that works in its favor.

Nearly 20 years later, LolliLove is still around and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. For fans of Gunn’s blockbusters, it’s a weird, fascinating look at where he started, far away from superheroes, but already full of sharp humor.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!