I had high hopes for this movie before I started watching it. I'm a big fan of Jenna Fischer, Chris Messina and Malin Ackerman (though not so much so Topher Grace). And though the Indie Romance genre may be a bit hackneyed, I've always found enjoyment in the littler things that many of these movies have to offer - artistic cinematography, witty banter, and moments that your average viewer can relate to. This movie, however, was lackluster in all of those previous components.
If I were to sum up my experience viewing this film in a sentence, it would be: This film has all the tell-tale signs of being written by a try-hard, vapid, parentally subsidized, film school attending hipster who is too far divorced from reality to convince me that I should feel for any of the protagonists in the film. I know that Lee Kirk is probably far from being that kind of person, but his film conveyed that message to me.
Jenna Fischer and Chris Messina star as two aimless (or let's not sugar-coat it, USELESS) adults in their 30s, the former who can't seem to hold down a job, and the latter who is a quarters-per-day street performer who lives in a giant urban loft with his girlfriend who is about to break up with him. Now don't get me wrong, having unemployed, 30+ year old millennials as protagonists have worked well before because through the evolution of the plot, they reveal likable and respectable qualities about themselves. That was not the case in this film. The only thing that they convinced me of, perhaps too many times, is that they "feel lost", they "don't know" what they want to do with their lives, and that they have the angst I'd expect from a 14-year-old at a Death Cab For Cutie concert.
The plot of the film focuses on the struggle that these aimless 30 something protagonists have against the antagonists portrayed by the working adults in the film who "have it together" and "have their lives figured out". Since the protagonists by themselves don't give me any reason to like them by themselves, the film resorts to an unbelievably farcical portrayal of the latter cohort that paints them as so lacking in any empathy and emotional maturity that I couldn't help but cringe anytime one of these characters received any screen time: the two cheesy guys in suits publicly bragging about their Christmas bonuses at the company party (seriously, who wears suits to a company party), the hiring manager at the temp agency (who fires Jenna Fischer in such a farcically unauthentic manner that in reality, it would sound 'lawsuit' bells employment lawyers everywhere), and Malin Ackerman's character who won't stop pestering her older sister, and forcing Topher Grace's character on her. And Topher Grace, good grief - what sane working adult would think that an over-the-top narcissistic, corny inspirational speaker who half fills conference centers at your local airport's Holiday Inn is a model of success in this day and age? I've seen more believable exposition in Hillary Duff movies.
At the end of all this, I was left wondering - is this the level of comical absurdity you have to relegate employed, marginally successful members of society just so that, in juxtaposition with our worthless 30 something protagonists, we're supposed to identify with them? Sorry, not me.
If I were to sum up my experience viewing this film in a sentence, it would be: This film has all the tell-tale signs of being written by a try-hard, vapid, parentally subsidized, film school attending hipster who is too far divorced from reality to convince me that I should feel for any of the protagonists in the film. I know that Lee Kirk is probably far from being that kind of person, but his film conveyed that message to me.
Jenna Fischer and Chris Messina star as two aimless (or let's not sugar-coat it, USELESS) adults in their 30s, the former who can't seem to hold down a job, and the latter who is a quarters-per-day street performer who lives in a giant urban loft with his girlfriend who is about to break up with him. Now don't get me wrong, having unemployed, 30+ year old millennials as protagonists have worked well before because through the evolution of the plot, they reveal likable and respectable qualities about themselves. That was not the case in this film. The only thing that they convinced me of, perhaps too many times, is that they "feel lost", they "don't know" what they want to do with their lives, and that they have the angst I'd expect from a 14-year-old at a Death Cab For Cutie concert.
The plot of the film focuses on the struggle that these aimless 30 something protagonists have against the antagonists portrayed by the working adults in the film who "have it together" and "have their lives figured out". Since the protagonists by themselves don't give me any reason to like them by themselves, the film resorts to an unbelievably farcical portrayal of the latter cohort that paints them as so lacking in any empathy and emotional maturity that I couldn't help but cringe anytime one of these characters received any screen time: the two cheesy guys in suits publicly bragging about their Christmas bonuses at the company party (seriously, who wears suits to a company party), the hiring manager at the temp agency (who fires Jenna Fischer in such a farcically unauthentic manner that in reality, it would sound 'lawsuit' bells employment lawyers everywhere), and Malin Ackerman's character who won't stop pestering her older sister, and forcing Topher Grace's character on her. And Topher Grace, good grief - what sane working adult would think that an over-the-top narcissistic, corny inspirational speaker who half fills conference centers at your local airport's Holiday Inn is a model of success in this day and age? I've seen more believable exposition in Hillary Duff movies.
At the end of all this, I was left wondering - is this the level of comical absurdity you have to relegate employed, marginally successful members of society just so that, in juxtaposition with our worthless 30 something protagonists, we're supposed to identify with them? Sorry, not me.