Movie Review

Don't Think Twice gives some thought to often difficult world of comedy

From the outside, the comedy world seems brutal. Stand-up and improv comedians usually work late hours for little pay, all in pursuit of a big break that may never come.

Anyone who sticks with it for a long time without big success is either extremely committed to the craft or somewhat delusional about his or her talent.

People on both sides of that divide populate Don’t Think Twice, which follows a New York City improv troupe called The Commune. The sextet — Jack (Keegan-Michael Key), Samantha (Gillian Jacobs), Miles (Mike Birbiglia), Bill (Chris Gethard), Allison (Kate Micucci), and Lindsay (Tami Sagher) — have been together for years, with the goal for all of them to be picked for the cast of Weekend Live, an obvious stand-in for Saturday Night Live.

When only two of them are invited to audition for the show, cracks start to form in the group’s normally tight bond. When only one is chosen, those cracks become bigger and bigger, eventually threatening not only the group’s survival, but also their friendships.

Written and directed by Birbiglia, the film has its fair share of laughs, but it’s also filled with a good amount of sadness and awkwardness. Each member of the group has had such a single-minded pursuit for so long that the realization that they might not make it after all hits them hard, in a variety of ways.

Birbiglia does an excellent job of showing just how tight the group is, so when they start to fracture, it feels very impactful. Anyone who’s been part of a good group of friends can relate to the way changes big and small affect the chemistry. As Birbiglia shows, it can often be subtle things that lead to positive or negative effects, especially in a group that likes to crack jokes as often as this group does.

The entire group of actors will be familiar to anyone with a good knowledge of comedy world, and the characters’ stories seem to mirror those of the actors portraying them. That mixture works well for the movie, as each actor seems to draw on personal experience to give the character extra depth. It doesn’t hurt that each of them can easily draw a guffaw.

Don’t Think Twice is a fun, poignant, and sometimes difficult-to-take look at the intricacies of the comedy world and the difficulty of maintaining friendships.

Cast of Don't Think Twice.

Cast of Don't Think Twice

Photo courtesy of Jon Pack

Cast of Don't Think Twice.

Movie Review

Great acting and directing drive The Christophers to artistic heights

Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen in The Christophers

Photo by Claudette Barius

Michaela Coel and Ian McKellen in The Christophers.

Director Steven Soderbergh is one of those filmmakers who — aside from the Ocean’s series — never seems to make the same kind of movie twice. He is somehow able to adapt his abilities to all sorts of different stories, making each of them as compelling as any other. His latest masterclass is in the London-set film, The Christophers.

Lori Butler (Michaela Coel), who restores art for a living, is approached by brother and sister Sallie and Barnaby Sklar (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) with a scheme. They want her to become the new assistant for their aging father, Julian (Ian McKellen), a famous artist known for a series called “The Christophers,” in order to gain access to unfinished paintings from the series and complete them herself.

Lori accepts the deal despite having some uneasy feelings about Julian, with whom she had a bad interaction years ago. Julian is just as wary, both because he knows of his children’s interest in the unfinished works, and because he would prefer to be left in peace. Although the trepidation on both sides continues for the bulk of the story, a grudging respect arises between two artists who know skill when they see it.

Directed by Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon, who last collaborated on No Sudden Move, the film is astonishing in its ability to be compelling with such a small story. Much of the film is spent inside Julian’s multi-story home as Julian and Lori have low-level confrontations about a variety of things, including the meaning of his art, her abilities, the fate of the remaining “Christophers,” and more. Each conversation brings out more detail about their worldviews and their thoughts about their lot in life.

Much of the success of the film lies in the performances of McKellen and Coel. The 86-year-old McKellen has not lost his ability to astonish with the spoken word, and the monologues he delivers are engrossing even when they’re about mundane things. Coel, best known for the 2020 HBO show I May Destroy You, is a great foil for McKellen, never backing down from his challenges and giving her own unique takes on her lines.

While the film can be enjoyable for non-art lovers, those who appreciate the vagaries of the art world will have a lot to chew on. Soderbergh and Solomon debate a lot of aspects of art, including whether it’s possible to separate the art from the person making it, why some art is valued more than others, the ethics of forgery, and more. Because the film is about a fictional artist, it gives the filmmakers a bit more freedom in their criticisms.

Aside from McKellen and Coel, Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and Corden are the only other two people who get significant screen time in the film. Both of them are, let’s say, acquired tastes, and each gives an elevated performance that matches the energy of their respective characters. Tilly Botsford makes a nice impression in a small role as Julian’s masseuse.

Soderbergh’s last three films — Presence, Black Bag, and now The Christophers — have nothing in common other than the expert filmmaker helming all of them. When you can make a ghost story, a spy film, and a small film about artists equally interesting, you know you’re doing something right.

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The Christophers is now playing in theaters.

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