Don't Think Twice (2016)

I've rated many movies of the bad kind, but this one stole the cake enough for me to want to write my first review. As my first review I should mention i'm not a believer in critics or reviews by people I don't know, but seeing how so many gave this movie a 2 thumbs up just leaves me puzzled. The situation each character faved and the themes this movie were trying to set could have made for some great work. Sadly though the writing, and scenes were terribly placed together. We were supposed to be believing in each characters issues, each characters connection to one another, and I honestly can't say I felt any of the emotions they could have gone through. Jealousy, resentment, fear, bonds breaking, sense of growing into a more complete adult, and even the bonds the characters had between themselves felt dim. To have a dim candle sell us on all those emotions, does not work. To have a performance nuanced or downplayed is one thing, but to do it with the overall project, seems unfinished. To have a script, actors, and directing all fall short of selling the potential dramady this could have been is crazy. Given the talent behind the lens, on paper, and on screen you'd think they could havd forced out more than just a chuckle. Instead i'm left with a feeling in my gut that this movie was grossly overrated, and unfairly reviewed. I'm not saying this is what happened, but it feels as if every person attached to this project banded together and went incognito under a profile and said "let's all hijack the reviews". I'm a fan of indie, unconventional and arthouse type movies, but slapping any of those labels on this movie would be a huge slap in the face to any of those categories. This movie could have been so much better, and while i've given some movies with similar failings in directing, acting or writing, better ratings those movies still had subtle things such as cinematography, half-decent action, quirky side characters. This mess should apologize to the sum of its parts, because I did try to enjoy what little I could, sadly there was nothing left when I finished.

Hi film makers. Here a free tip. Never make movies about people that are supposed to be funny, and then show what is supposed to be funny. No actor ever, ever ever ever, manages to make that not cringe worthy. They come close here, but maybe as close as anyone ever will be. Here the thing: We see a lot of improv comedy, and it is supposed to be funny, and the audience is laughing because it's funny. (in other words, we are told that is funny or not) Here's the problem: we get to see what the audience is seeing and it's NOT funny. That really takes me out of it. And even if it WERE funny, we would know it was probably scripted, and scripted improv, well that's not very funny. (I realize the improv scenes a probably a blend of script and not, any-who, it not funny)Let's say you made a movie about the worlds funniest joke. It would be a lot smarter to not show the actual joke and just let the mind wonder about it. As soon a you show the joke, well, it ruins it, because chances are it's not the funniest joke ever. See?OK. With that said! Most of the improv seems quite natural though, and the acting is good. I didn't find the movie very funny, but I think where it shines is in the drama. Because this movie has some pretty good, heart felt points about human behavior. It's got some tense scenes, and quite a few times it hits quite close to home. (At one time I was like: wow, that character is me. NOT gonna say who)I sort of wish they had solved the improv-thing in another way, by maybe not showing so much of it, or making it supposed to be cringey. I don't know. It's a sad movie, not really a feel good one, and that's good.

We meet an improv troupe called "The Commune." They are based in a small New York theater, perform nightly to a small crowd for $5 a ticket. Though they don't have much, and most work the odd job on the side, we know that this is their passion. They are best friends who stay in on weekends and dream of being cast on "Weekend Live" (an obvious play on Saturday Night Live, the ultimate goal of most comedians in their 30's). What this movie does so well is try to figure out what would happen if one of these friends actually hit it big. In a tight community of struggling actors, what would happen when it becomes apparent that not everyone is bound for stardom.DON'T THINK TWICE is about as good of a movie as I have seen all year. It's directed by Mike Birbiglia (who also has a costarring role as an improv instructor who just can't seem to catch a break in anything besides romance) and has all the makings of a classic exploration of the human condition. Keegan-Michael Key plays Jay (you may recognize him from MadTV, and I wonder if this at all echoes his rise to fame over the past decade), the most recognizable of the troupe and one who is known to break out a Barack Obama impression when talent scouts are nearby. He is one of the group, but secretly dreams of breaking away. While the other members of Commune feel safe amongst numbers, Jay knows there is much more he is capable of.Jay dates Samantha (Gillian Jacobs is absolutely incredible in this role), a quirky girl who is nearly the exact opposite of him. She is shy in front of large groups but performs improv with ease every night. Both her and Jay get asked to audition for Weekend Live (to the frustration of the rest of the cast) and yet on the day of her audition, she chickens out and decides that maybe it's not for her. Jay is cast on the spot following his audition. He tries to talk to her that night about what went wrong, and already we know that this relationship is doomed to fall apart.The ensemble cast is all around remarkable. In a group of six performers, each is fleshed out and given a soul. Allison is the tiny girl who dreams of publishing a graphic novel. Lindsay comes from wealth and yet still collects unemployment checks to save her from having to find a real job. Bill is arguably the funniest of the bunch, awkward with glasses, trying to cope with the fact that his father is near death.The fun with the movie comes from their performances on stage. Filmed hand-held and constantly circling the cast, comedy seeps through the screen as though we were watching the intimate comedy routine in person. We start to understand the ins and outs of improvisation, and yet this is in no way a movie about improv in general. It's an honest, timeless human drama that simply uses live television where a classic story might have just used a knife in the back.There is such heart in the story, in the characters, and by the end (as clichéd as it may sound) it really felt as though I was beginning to know these people in and out. As Jay becomes more famous, the audiences begin taking requests for him to play some of his TV characters (though he is now cast on TV, he still returns to the Commune to help his friends and perform more casually alongside them). The rest of the cast becomes frustrated while Jay just soaks his fame up. Eventually it builds to the point where they perform a skit in which Jay has finally died and they circle his coffin, remembering him for the airhead he was. Everything they say is true, and the audience laughs and laughs. Amidst the realization of failure, maybe the movie is trying to tell us that the best thing to do is just laugh. It seems to work.

There is always someone out there that is going to say a certain movie is great simply because it has that "artsy" or "independent" feel to it, regardless if the movie is good or not. That is the only reason this movie can have the overly generous rating it has.I get that it's not a comedy, but shouldn't at least the few improv scenes they show be mildly funny? OK so I got over that I wasn't going to laugh at all during the movie, but then for a drama it was simply flat and boring. I never felt anything for the characters, even though the acting wasn't bad. The "commune" actors didn't seem to have a believable chemistry to where you really felt for them.I grasped that the movie wasn't really plot-driven and its intent was to show struggling actors and how they deal with things like selfishness, self doubt, compassion, etc., but I just found the presentation of it a big yawner.