Directed by Jared Hess
Starring Michael Angarano, Jermaine Clement, Hector Jimenez, Halley Feiffer, Jennifer Coolidge
Synopsis
Nerdy, home-schooled kid goes to a writing workshop thingy where he meets some odd people and enters his writing in a contest. His submission is stolen by a washed up author. People, advertently or not, take advantage of him and he grows a little aided by his mom.
The Woman
fantastic! i thought this was better than napoleon dynamite. there were way more levels to it and it still had that kind of humor. the science fiction novella in itself was totally awesome. jemaine is awesome. hector jimenez, though already established as awesome due to his contribution known as "the jumping jellyfish" was oscar worthy. jennifer coolidge's fashions...are indescribable. it's like a 14 year old came up with every aspect of this movie and that is a precious jewel. moster most likely disagrees with me, but that is because he is way more curmudgeonly than i. i would also like to point out if this guy never made any movies we would not have the beloved terminology of "virgina" for a local destination, discovered on an adventure to imbibe this bard's tellings.
it kind of makes me want to read/write terrible science fiction novellas. up to this point i have only attempted mermaid stories when i was 13 (?) with the excellent co-author becky and i know that is beautiful gold. i have a typewriter. one of the keys doesn't work. it takes tiny paper. this could work.
MOster
Yeah, this was a not-so-much for me. I understand why my woman likes it, but no. There were plenty of funny bits which didn't add all the way up. Most of the best material is relegated to the fantasy sequences within the kid's story, and I will say that one of the successes is how we can follow the broad strokes of that story through a few relatively short sequences. The ending also rang true, at least, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying as Napoleon's final dance.
There is funny here, but too much is too cringe-y. Angarano's Benjamin has an excess of naivete. Home schooled or not, he spends a fair amount of time online and I can't imagine that he would be so bizarrely unsavvy either interpersonally or professionally. With the exception of Feiffer, who's unbelievable in a different way, practically all of the supporters go too far over the top. Some of the Lonnie stuff in particular consists of repetitive jokes which only work half the time, and I fear that the usually-perfect Coolidge has acquired some static on her phone-in typecasting.
One more screenwriter and this could have been great. I just hope it doesn't prevent Hess from trying again.
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