Legend Has It Review: When a Lap Dance Turns Into a Shootout, This Short Goes All In

Director: Thomas Lorber
Critic’s Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Duration: 21 mins
Genre: Short Film, Action, Comedy
Language: English
Release: 2025

What's it about?

A male stripper must fight for survival when he accidentally gets involved with the French Mafia instead of a bunch of hungry bachelorettes vying for his G-string. What is supposed to be his final performance turns into a grandstand he never expected — and this audience isn’t tipping.

Review

Often, a story begins with just one line. In feature films, makers stretch that one-line idea into hours, sometimes dragging the screenplay along with it. Legend Has It is the rare action-comedy short whose one-line premise is so solid, it could easily power a full-fledged feature. Ironically, the only criticism one can level at this near-perfect short is that it ends too soon. Within its crisp 21-minute runtime, it intrigues, engages, and entertains without wasting a single beat.

Writers Frank Tremblay and Ramesh Santanam, along with director Thomas Lorber, build an entertaining narrative from a wildly plausible case of being at the wrong place at the absolute worst time. Two seemingly opposite acts collide and intertwine to create a sharp comedy of errors. I am referring to sex and violence — both involve stripped layers, heightened tension, messy outcomes, and an audience watching closely. There is pain and pleasure in both. There is choreography in both. And satisfaction — however morally questionable — in both.

Lorber synchronises this parallel brilliantly when he places Adam (Jon Cor), perfectly sculpted and armed with what are meant to be performance props — handcuffs and a rather unconventional accessory — into a room full of hardened men baying for blood. They believe he is the mercenary hired to eliminate the “rat” tied up before them. Adam, blissfully unaware at first, thinks he’s simply clocking in for work. By the time he realises this isn’t that kind of show, the music has changed — and so have the stakes.

What unfolds in that room is the crux of the film: tightly packed action, escalating confusion, physical comedy, and some delightfully inventive stunt work. Lorber brings his finesse for action to the table, ensuring there isn’t a single dull moment. Everyday “tools of the trade” become weapons of survival — and yes, the transformation is as cheeky as it sounds.

Jon Cor fully commits to the absurdity and physical demands of his role without winking at the audience. That straight-faced commitment makes the humour land harder. Tom Morton, as Mafia boss Henri-George, strikes the perfect balance between menace and mild incompetence — the kind of leader who clearly needs better HR practices.

Overall, Legend Has It achieves what many larger films fail to: it fuses two notoriously tricky genres — action and comedy — seamlessly. It moves with confidence, never overstays its welcome, and delivers a climax that is both chaotic and completely satisfying.

It may begin with a G-string.

But it ends with a bang :P