This is a very sweet and funny movie.
Yup, saw it last night and thoroughly loved it. (The only thing I don't love about it is that poster, to be honest. An odd choice both as a design idea and sloppy execution.)
The movie is a pretty perfect melding of Mooney and McCary's SNL short work with the clear influence of The Lonely Island and Phil Lord & Chris Miller as producers, blending in the best of modern indie comedies for good measure to balance out the otherwise unfamiliar elements of it. This is probably the most Mooney has ever been in something, and while he's always been a fantastic offbeat presence in smaller doses, his performance here, though still having strong elements of the sort of thing he's done in that previous work, conjures so many added layers of nuance and sweetness on top of the overt weirdness that could've teetered on the less-dimensional end that I think is just a phenomenal performance. Obviously him having a major hand in the script helped him inform his work in front of the camera, but both ends are so fully realized.
This is the sort of movie I both hope and fear that like Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the sort of movie that I'll see this early, and then simultaneously fear and hope that after I tell everyone how good it is and how much they should see it, it then doesn't get a particularly good release, but in 6-8 months seemingly everyone finds a way to it (likely Netflix) and loves it, wondering why they never saw it at their local multiplex.
Easily one of my favourites of the year. Especially as it'll be the sort of thing I'll easily return to more than most others.
Last edited by Henry Gale; 08-05-2017 at 01:10 AM. Reason: lil grammar tweakz + expanding
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
It's in theaters near me, but only at the Arclight, and I don't want to pull out $18 for a movie ticket.Quoting Henry Gale (view post)
Yeah, that's some craziness I'm not familiar with. That's basically IMAX prices here..Quoting Dead & Messed Up (view post)
That's why it's so nice to see something like The Big Sick have a perfect rollout and expand with ease. As great as their films can be, I don't know if Sony Pictures Classics has ever had the track record for letting any of their films reach a significant theatrical audience outside of Woody Allen stuff.
BUT I will say, if any non-spectacle movie I've seen so far this year is worth that kind of upcharge (without a special theatrical presentation like Dunkirk in 70mm or whatever), then it's this. At the very least just to see it with an audience on a screen so big Mooney's James would be blown away by it.
Last edited by Henry Gale; 08-04-2017 at 08:12 PM.
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
This instantly became one of my favorites of the year. Just hits all the right beats.
This is just the sweetest movie. My Kyle Mooney fandom just increased again.
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
This was phenomenal. Just an absolute delight.