Tag Archives: mumblecore

Table 19

I sort of wonder if this is an oddball comedy or just a comedy filled with oddballs. It IS filled with oddballs, that’s the premise. Eloise (Anna Kendrick) is the ex-maid of honour at her best friend’s wedding. Having recently been broken up with the bride’s brother\best man, she knows she shouldn’t be there but to prove a point she RSVPs yes, and as a reward for her bravery, she gets seated at dreaded table 19 with all the other losers and rejects who should have known better.

MV5BYThmOTM1OTktODc4Mi00NzU4LWI5MzItYzc0ZDY1YWJhZjVlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjg0ODEwMjU@._V1_The table 19 crew: Bina & Jerry Kemp (Lisa Kudrow, Craig Robinson) who are diner owners who don’t know the bride or groom personally, and barely know each other anymore; Renzo (Tony Revolori), a young kid who’s mother told him he stood a better chance of picking up at this wedding than at his junior prom; cousin Walter (Stephen Merchant), newly out of prison for having embezzled from the bride’s father; and Nanny Jo (June Squibb) who was basically a retaliation invite.

They’re a gang of misfits and the wedding is doomed for them. The critics have doomed Table 19 entirely, but I thought it had its charms. There’s certainly a lot of sympathy for the odd ducks of the world, and the performances are pretty winning (Squibb and Merchant being favourites). Some of the gags are tired but it’s kind of nice to see the weirdos normally relegated to the background have a moment in the spotlight. A Mumblecore film more concerned with characters and dialogue than plot, this movie isn’t going to light the world on fire. But like any wedding, it can be made tolerable with an open bar.

Joshy

Joshy has planned a fun bachelor-party weekend away in Ojai, just him and his buddies celebrating his upcoming marriage with as much booze and drugs and strippers as time and space allows. Except Joshy’s fiancee commits suicide, and the weekend’s now been downgraded to just a “hangout” among friends.

Only a few brave friends arrive, besides Joshy (Thomas Middleditch): stable Ari (Adam Pally), determined to keep things light, neurotic Adam (Alex Ross Perry) whose default mode is wet blanket, and Eric (Nick Kroll), the friend with coke and bad ideas. They pick 2f03a127a57d72e5de9a6d7fb71e9cf5up some hangers-on (Jenny Slate among them) and proceed to have a very weird weekend.

How do men mourn and commiserate with their grieving friend? They mostly don’t. They mostly tamp down their feelings in favour of whatever self-destruction’s close by. The film is largely improvised, making use of all the comedic chops, so the chemistry is crackling even if it feels like the plot goes absolutely nowhere. It’s really about the presumption of our perceptions, and maybe the unknowability of people. The characters disclose things to each other, and expose themselves to us, but we don’t come away really understanding them any better for it.

Joshy has a really ephemeral quality to it, a sense that nothing can last, good or otherwise, and things will inevitably be left unsettled. This may be a comment on closure and its real-life attainability, and that’s exactly when the movie feels the most honest.

This was a humbly entertaining watch for me because I like these guys, but it wasn’t exactly earth-shattering goodness. It’s kind of a cross between a raunchy comedy and mumblecore, so take that admonition with the grain of salt it deserves.

Band of Robbers

Some things never change? Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are childhood friends, scamps, hunting for buried treasure. They get into trouble. Huck gets caught, repeatedly, and winds up in prison. He doesn’t rat on his friend though, his partner in crime, so Tom keeps out and becomes a cop. Upon Huck’s release, Tom is only too happy to recruit him maxresdefaultinto his Band of Robbers, where they can make “bad guys pay” and get a heck of a pay day for themselves.

Not exactly the Twain you remember? The directors describe it more as “fan fiction” and no, it doesn’t quite hit the high mark they’ve aimed at, but there’s fun to be had in the trying. The script is uneven but there are enough little giggle-nuggets along the way to sustain you. The movie doesn’t quite keep to its original momentum, but I have to admit, I wanted to find out how it would play out.

Adam and Aaron Nee both wrote and directed this thing but only Adam stars – as Tom. The first half of the film is coated thickly in their love for the source material and fans of Mark Twain will be rewarded with winks and nods aplenty. But someone less familiar will still find plenty to enjoy in this little indie caper. The Nee brothers are sometimes lumped into the Mumblecore movement often attributed to that other famous pair of sibling filmmakers (The Duplass brothers), but some would argue the cinematography in their films alone elevate them beyond such distinction.

No matter how you slice it, it seems pretty clear that this is a talented duo on the rise. Discover them now.