Three Eras

This oddball comedy is as much about pondering the various forms of self-government as it is at evoking laughs.

“Three Eras” is a very strange movie indeed. A comedy that takes place over three different eras in human history — caveman times, the old West and a modern setting — it’s as much a rumination on the different iterations of self-government as it is a comedy.

I can’t say as I laughed a whole bunch, though there are a few good guffaws here and there from co-directing brothers Mark and Jay Meyers, and screenwriters Chris Kerr, Ryan Hoang and Dan Asbill. The filmmakers themselves comprise the small cast, each playing various roles, even sometimes within the same sequence, in a very Monty Python-esque method.

The different vignettes usually have something to do with the very human squabbles over power and property, and are supposed to reveal something about our nature and why we behave in the often illogical and destructive ways we do. There’s also a narrator dude in cloak and beard who breaks in to intone deep-voiced lessons about what we’re about to watch or just did.

Like I said, not exactly standard comedy M.O. here.

Imagine if the team of writers from an upstart libertarian magazine decided to make a movie, and it might look something like this.

In the caveman period, a nascent realtor attempts to sell various caves and encampments to make a living, but in every instance is foiled by a much larger and stronger caveman who simply takes the property by force rather than negotiate. Because our guy, Buster, is smallish and wimpy, he is largely consigned to wailing and gnashing to his simple-minded companion.

Later they encounter guy who uses religion as his coin of the realm, rather than brute violence. Things go about the same.

In the Western bits, a disgruntled schoolteacher wants to sell his property to the railroad for their new lines, but needs to have the land of his neighbor to make the deal happen. This leads to various negotiations, con jobs, some murder-y stuff and retribution.

The modern section has a loser worker drone, Don, having to deal with a trio of super-wealthy brothers who want to make some videos outlining their various harebrained schemes to make money. They’re privileged twerps, constantly abusing Don and making a lot of asinine assumptions about how much money the average person has to invest, but their jocular bro-dude videos find an audience because, of course they do.

Each section is given its own title, with themes ranging from “Dumb Don Rents a Dumb Boat” to “Self Governance Requires Making Sacrifices for Justice.”

I’m not really sure what to make of “Three Eras.” It’s ultra-low budget and has the look and feel of something made by pro-ams who had an idea for a movie but not really the skills and resources to make one. I could see a few of the cleverer scenes being polished up and making their way into a “Saturday Night Live” skit or short film form, or something similar.

But even at 71 minutes, the film seems stuffed with filler and fat with extraneous material that doesn’t work. Maybe just two eras?