American Ultra

At just over forty-minutes, the making-of featurette included on the Blu-ray of "American Ultra" is nearly half the length of the movie. In it, almost every member of the cast expresses their gratitude to everyone else: Jesse Eisenberg is eager to work once again with Kristin Stewart; Stewart sees Eisenberg as a kindred spirit (it's true the two have good chemistry); and neither can remember having more fun than on set with John Leguizamo's manic energy. In the gag reel, Jesse Eisenberg can't keep a straight face, which is a refreshing break from the all-work-no-play persona we've come to associate him with.

This is all pretty standard press-junket, positive-spin stuff, but it's actress Connie Britton who really sells it. Her enthusiasm never wanes as she applauds the whole ensemble, one after another, as if awed by everyone's presence, just lucky to be part of the team.

In fact, the words "team" and "teamwork" come up in almost everyone's interview -- everyone's except screenwriter Max Landis.

Landis, at thirty-years-old, exudes the self-satisfied smuggery of a suburban teenager. He cracks up at his own jokes, says either "fuck" or "shit" at least once in every breath, and speaks with the urgency of an excited child whose every banal observation is tinted with a sense of innate profundity.

"I write stories that are very tropey," he says. He molds the words with his hands as he speaks, and gives the camera cocked-headed squint, as if he expects you to be dumbstruck by this unique brand of alchemy. "It's about superpowers, it's about monsters, it's about... that. But instead of focusing on that, I try to really focus on the human story."

If his maturity seems arrested somehow, keep in mind that this is the son of legendary comedy director John Landis; Landis the younger is, without a doubt, the beneficiary of some top-tier nepotism. This might explain why his tone is reminiscent of the spoiled-rotten royalty featured on MTV's "My Super Sweet Sixteen":

"I went into a Wal-Mart, a real one, and I was like, okay, this is what I want the scene to be: there are a bunch of bad guys in the Wal-Mart, and I want to walk through Wal-Mart and pick things up and use them as weapons.... So I walked through Wal-Mart with my Blackberry going 'eyebrow pencil,' 'this wall of light bulbs' -- like all that shit -- and I ended up writing it. (He turns to the staging being erected behind him.) And now I come to set and it's there! You ain't seen shit like this, man!"

Cool story, bro. But you forgot to thank all the little people.

"American Ultra"
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD combo pack
lionsgateathome.com/american-ultra
$29.99