I guess I should start with a disclaimer: a couple hours after seeing this movie in the theater, I popped a copy of Akira Kurosawa's Red Beard into my DVD player, because I had borrowed it from work a couple of weeks back, and the pressures of managing fantasy baseball teams in two leagues hadn't afforded me the time to commit to a 3 1/2 hour epic set in Tokugawa era Japan. Consequently, my recollections of this film will perforce be even more evanescent than they probably would normally have been.
So, the set-up is this: our hero, Matt, is living (and it would appear, being supported by) his brilliant, gorgeous longtime girlfriend, Abby. In the course of working open mikes and providing intros for established comedians, he has managed to work up "almost eleven" minutes of material. A flaky agent sends him on the road to a series of extremely bush league engagements where, through dint of desperation, determination, and by mining his fear of commitment to his relationship with Abby, he manages to find his comedic feet, and carve out a career for himself. His lightning strike on the road to Damascus is the line he throws out backstage, talking to a more established comedian: "I'm not going to get married until I'm sure nothing else good can happen in my life". And there is the crux of the film. Matt is tired of everybody correctly perceiving that his relationship with Abby is the best thing that can be said for him, and so, at whatever cost his subconscious takes out on his sleeping hours, he starts to pull out of the relationship. At the end, he concludes that Abby was going to spend the rest of their lives with him just because she doesn't want to hurt him.
The problem I had, and it's not a serious one, is believing that choice. Maybe it's just my appreciation for Lauren Ambrose, but really, there have been perfectly happy marriages built on worse foundations. The relationship of his parents contributes to Matt's misgivings: his batty mother, wonderfully played by Carol Kane (and why the hell isn't she in more movies?), and his stern father (James Rebhorn), might seem like a misalliance at first glance, but nothing in the film suggests that they aren't perfectly happy together, if a little uncomfortable to be around. And really, is a life of parking lot assignations with stand-up groupies (I suppose there are such groupies, but what a sad thought) the something else good that can come along?
In short, I liked the movie well enough: it was a treat seeing Ambrose, Kane, and Rebhorn, the backstage camaraderie amongst the comics rang true, and Birbiglia's actual stand-up pleasantly reminded me of Garry Shandling's delivery. My complaint would be, no matter how true the story is, it still basically feels implausible.
So, the set-up is this: our hero, Matt, is living (and it would appear, being supported by) his brilliant, gorgeous longtime girlfriend, Abby. In the course of working open mikes and providing intros for established comedians, he has managed to work up "almost eleven" minutes of material. A flaky agent sends him on the road to a series of extremely bush league engagements where, through dint of desperation, determination, and by mining his fear of commitment to his relationship with Abby, he manages to find his comedic feet, and carve out a career for himself. His lightning strike on the road to Damascus is the line he throws out backstage, talking to a more established comedian: "I'm not going to get married until I'm sure nothing else good can happen in my life". And there is the crux of the film. Matt is tired of everybody correctly perceiving that his relationship with Abby is the best thing that can be said for him, and so, at whatever cost his subconscious takes out on his sleeping hours, he starts to pull out of the relationship. At the end, he concludes that Abby was going to spend the rest of their lives with him just because she doesn't want to hurt him.
The problem I had, and it's not a serious one, is believing that choice. Maybe it's just my appreciation for Lauren Ambrose, but really, there have been perfectly happy marriages built on worse foundations. The relationship of his parents contributes to Matt's misgivings: his batty mother, wonderfully played by Carol Kane (and why the hell isn't she in more movies?), and his stern father (James Rebhorn), might seem like a misalliance at first glance, but nothing in the film suggests that they aren't perfectly happy together, if a little uncomfortable to be around. And really, is a life of parking lot assignations with stand-up groupies (I suppose there are such groupies, but what a sad thought) the something else good that can come along?
In short, I liked the movie well enough: it was a treat seeing Ambrose, Kane, and Rebhorn, the backstage camaraderie amongst the comics rang true, and Birbiglia's actual stand-up pleasantly reminded me of Garry Shandling's delivery. My complaint would be, no matter how true the story is, it still basically feels implausible.