BEFORE: Ugh, I'm in a real lull when it comes to comedy movies, it seems. If only I worked at a place where movies were being shown around the clock, and I could get free tickets... I kid, but there's nothing playing at the multiplex where I work that I even want to see - one more reason to quit that job, I have no interest in using my benefit of getting free passes to see anything. Should I stick with the job, just to get a free ticket to "Black Widow" when it gets released? I'm just not sure it's worth it.
Tim Heidecker carries over from "Let's Go to Prison".
THE PLOT: After being freed from his life in an underground bunker, a man sets out to make a movie of the only TV show he has ever known.
AFTER: I think it's safe to say I've seen a bunch of weird movies in my time - and man, this is just plain one of the weirdest. Maybe with repeat viewings it could get a little less weird, like "Napoleon Dynamite" did, but I'm just not sure. It's so out there it kind of comes back again, do you know what I mean? Like WHY would anybody write this story in THIS way, where did this whole idea come from?
Part of the issue, I think, is Kyle Mooney, he's one of those actors who I'm unable to get a read on, I'm never sure if he's "doing a bit" as a character, or if he's genuinely that weird and out of touch with how he's presenting himself. Or he played weird, out of touch characters for so long that he kind of became one, if you know what I mean. He reminds me a bit of a young Woody Allen, from the time of "Bananas", when Woody was doing comedy, but you always knew that Woody was in on the joke, and with Kyle Mooney I'm never really sure. Adam Sandler used to have a knack for playing the same kind of out-of-touch man-boy characters, like in "The Waterboy" or "Happy Gilmore", but again, you always felt with Sandler that when they called "Cut" he turned it off and went home to a semi-regular life, and it feels like Mooney just doesn't do that, he's THAT GUY all the time.
The story here concerns James, a man who was abducted as an infant and raised in a particular way by a couple that was not his parents, only they pretended to be, and they were slightly insane. They kept him isolated in a bunker, and told him that the world outside was toxic and dangerous (OK, so they weren't completely wrong) and kept him away from the internet and TV, except for a show called "Brigsby Bear" which his non-father was making in a makeshift TV studio not far away. The TV show, as his only source of entertainment, was also filled with the insane couple's philosophies of life and rules for living, so they were also part of James' indoctrination into their world, or a set of principles designed to mold him into who they wanted him to be, or perhaps just a method of spreading their insanity to one more person, all of this is a bit unclear.
When the authorities (finally) solve the abduction case and raid the bunker, this leads to James being reunited with his real parents, and after finding out his whole world is a lie, James has to learn how to interact with other humans, discover what parties are, and figure out what society is all about - only all he knows of pop culture is the Brigsby Bear show, and nobody else knows anything about it. I have to wonder if this is somehow a metaphor for nerds who discuss "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" with other people who just aren't all that into those franchises.
Despite the advice of a therapist who tells him he's got to give up "Brigsby Bear" and discover more about the true reality, James can't seem to let go - he talks up the show enough that his one friend, Spencer, uploads some clips to the internet and soon there are more people interested in the show, or at least oddly curious about it, and suddenly James becomes not just a celebrity for being in the news, but also becomes known as "the Bear guy" and since no new episodes are being produced by his now-incarcerated abductor, James sets out to make a "Brigsby Bear" movie that will tie up all the dangling plotlines, and also serve as a metaphor for his current situation - Brigsby Bear also finds out that his whole world is a lie, and the space police come and take his family away, sending him on a quest for the truth, while also defeating the evil Sun-Catcher once and for all.
The whole mythology of "Brigsby Bear" seems much too complicated to get into here, and I have to wonder if some screenwriters mapped it all out, or just threw a bunch of random elements together to simulate a proper background - either answer is equally likely. The costume is like a giant Teddy Ruxpin doll, the facial features are designed to move along with the voices played on a cassette tape in the costume's head. This is somehow both endearing and creepy, especially when the dialogue reflects a crazy person's thoughts on topics like politics, exercise and masturbation.
Random thoughts after watching this - it was released in 2017, but somehow feels very pandemically appropriate, with James not being allowed to leave his home and being led to believe that the air outside is dangerous. We all went through some form of this, and once the emergency was over and we could safely leave our homes again, it felt weird, right? Like we had to re-discover what's possible and what reality is, to some degree. I don't think I've ever seen Mark Hamill and Greg Kinnear in the same film, they do look similar in some ways, like they could believably play brothers in some other movie, just not this one. And of course Mark Hamill is an amazing voice actor, so perfect casting here as the man who was making an underground show and also voicing the characters.
The inspiration for this came from Mooney's own obsession with collecting old VHS tapes, he's apparently got a huge library, and certain poorly-made, psychedelic and creepy children's shows from the 1980's, particularly "Prayer Bear", though if you spot some similarities to "Teletubbies", I wouldn't say that you were wrong. "Sesame Street" also had an agenda to teach children certain things about the world, only I think we all agree that CTW never had malicious intent.
I'm left with the concept that, like James, I can't really tell where the fake reality leaves off and the real reality starts, because the film is about James and a few close friends making a movie that means a lot to him, but isn't very good technically, but still manages to connect with people. And that's exactly what Kyle Mooney did, in the end, in writing "Brigsby Bear" - so once again, I can't get a read on Kyle Mooney and whether he's playing a character, or he's really THAT GUY.
Also starring Kyle Mooney (last seen in "Playing It Cool"), Mark Hamill (last heard in "Batman: The Killing Joke"), Greg Kinnear (last seen in "The Gift"), Claire Danes (last seen in "The Family Stone"), Matt Walsh (last seen in "Drillbit Taylor"), Andy Samberg (last seen in "Palm Springs"), Beck Bennett (last heard in "The Angry Birds Movie 2"), Michaela Watkins (last seen in "How to Be a Latin Lover"), Ryan Simpkins (last seen in "A Single Man"), Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (last seen in "Love, Simon"), Alexa Demie, Chance Crimin, Kate Lyn Shell, Kiera Milan Hendricks, Jane Adams (last seen in "The Wackness"), Nick Rutherford (last seen in "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot").
RATING: 5 out of 10 camera tricks
No comments:
Post a Comment