Now You Know

I saw this film at a film festival and was floored by it. I laughed from start to finish, and found the ending touching. The highlight of the film were the duo of Buscuit and Gil(Trevor Fehrman and Jeff Anderson.) They spend much of the film bantering back and forth about pop culture topics, without seeming forced. The film featured some very funny scenes, amazing directing and camera work, and a great cast. Highly recommended.

Fans of Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse know Jeff Anderson as "Randal," the hilariously obnoxious character featured in Clerks and a spinoff cartoon show. With "Now You Know," screening for the first time in near completed form at the Vulgarathon 2002 (If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's not worth the typing to explain), Anderson jumps into the world of writer/directors, and it is a very impressive, successful debut.

Jeremy (Jeremy Sisto) is at his wild bachelor party, but he doesn't have the strength to tell his fellow partygoers that his wedding to Kerri (Rashida Jones) has been called off. The two return home to their separate friends and contemplate their future. Jeremy pals around with two lawn mowers by day, bizarre criminals by night named Gil (Anderson) and Biscuit (Trevor Fehrman); Kerri hangs out with Marty (Heather Paige Kent) who loves to sexually torture Kerri's horny younger brother. The film follows the Jeremy and Kerri struggle to come to terms with their respective issues in very different ways.

The film has some very big laughs; most from the weirdos Gil and Biscuit, who have a bit of the famous Clerks in their poor job performance and smart, witty dialogue. The film drags only when it gets more serious and focuses on its two leads; throughout the film we are left in the dark as to the hows and whys of the lead couple's breakup; an interesting story tactic, but one that doesn't quite work because a lot of times the lead performers don't seem to be all that interested in one another. While the story plays, and the ending is extremely satsifying, I was usually more intrigued with the respective sidekicks' antics (Furniture heists and marrital advice from lesbians, just to name a few) than with the leads. Anderson, in a large role, is very good, and the rest of the supporting cast give outstanding performances. Also, keep a keen eye for cameos from Kevin Smith and wife Jen, plus Liz Sheriden, aka Helen Seinfeld.

Screening the film before he showed it to cast and crew, Anderson's print wasn't completely finished (And there were a few continuity glitches that several vocal audience members harped on), but it was clear that the film has some real potential. It played for big laughs, and, with a little tightening in the slower areas of the movie, could be an outstanding romantic comedy. The entire audience loved the film and was pleasantly surprised, it seemed, at the writing and directing talent they saw. Let's hope we see some more of it in the future.

Jeff Anderson's debut feature is very much a grown up romantic comedy. Admittedly I was expecting a Randal Graves style of humor that wasn't delivered but that didn't stop my enjoyment of the flick. I was pleasantly surprised at the sincerity of the characters and the believability of the dialogue. I'm certain that a lot of the more serious scenes would have been crude and sentimental in lesser hands. The Gil and Biscuit scenes give it just enough humor to counter the central storyline. There are of course certain issues with both Andersons direction and his own limited acting abilities, but in their own way they're sort of charming. In short, the film is very enjoyable and Jeff shows a lot of potential as a Writer-Director.

We all know and love Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) from the Clerks movies. I saw this movie a couple of years ago at Vulgarthon, which is basically a Kevin Smith film festival. In fact, I can see myself in the crowd during the Q&A on this DVD which is pretty neat! :-) I will be honest and say that I did not have high hopes for this movie. I did not expect it to be bad, but I was certainly pleasantly surprised at how good it was and as one person stated during the Q&A, I now think of Jeff Anderson as Jeff Anderson, not as Randal. He has definitely come into his own and should be recognized for having talents all his own and beyond his quick-talking role in Kevin Smith's movies.

Now You Know is about a couple who are engaged and on the eve of their wedding the bride-to-be (Rashida Jones) calls off the wedding with (seemingly) no explanation, leaving the groom (Jeremy Sisto) confused and at a loss as to what he should do next.

One of the high points of the film is definitely the casting. For the most part the cast is impeccable and the acting is great. Jeremy Sisto is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors consistently surprising me in the unique and independent films he chooses to be in. His performance here is no exception, he is excellent as the sweet and baffled Jeremy. One hilarious fun fact is that according to Jeff Anderson his first choice for the role of Jeremy was Joey Lawrence! He said that Lawrence auditioned and was absolutely perfect but he couldn't bring himself to cast him simply because "come on, it's Joey Lawrence." Anyhow, Sisto fills the part just fine, although it would have been interesting to see Lawrence in the part as well.

I was happy to see Jones in the role of Kerri--the only other thing I have seen her in is one episode of the much beloved show Freaks and Geeks. She does just fine as the dissatisfied and confused Kerri.

In supporting roles we have Anderson as Gil, one of Jeremy's old friends, who does great as always. We also have a wonderful performance by Heather Paige Kent whom I used to watch in an underrated and short-lived TV show called That's Life. She turns in a remarkable performance here as the supportive friend of Kerri with a big problem of her own. I hope to see her in more movies in the future. In my opinion the only weak point in the casting is Trevor Fehrman as Bisquit, Jeremy and Gil's buddy. His performance is forgettable, poor and he brings almost none of himself to the part. Most of his rants are pretty typical of rants in almost every Kevin Smith movie and it's pretty obvious that these are some of the same, his inflection is even the same as so many other secondary characters in Clerks and it was actually a little distracting and it's also part of the reason I gave the movie six stars instead of seven or eight.

Another reason for the six-star rating is due to the fact that the movie suffers from a little predictability (not too bad though) and some dialogue in certain scenes that is too run-of-the-mill or typical. I also feel that certain parts of the movie are a bit too reminiscent of Clerks, which is not entirely a bad thing but it would have been nice to see Anderson break away from that and come up with something completely separate from his work with Smith.

All in all Anderson really put himself out there and we can see a lot of his personal story in Now You Know. This is a great first-time effort and I think we will see something even better with his next film Marry Me To Death. He stated that he wanted to make a movie that appealed to both men and women and this movie has crude humor and a somewhat Bachelor Party-esquire feel to it and also has a softer side with some romantic elements which will appeal to the ladies (not me so much because romance in movies makes me sick, haha). Anyway, he most certainly accomplishes this goal with Now You Know. I recommend checking this flick out, it is well worth the time.

Jeff Anderson shows that he is not only one of the funniest unknown actors, but also a talented director and writer with this movie about a man trying to figure out why he's been left at the altar. I saw an early screening of the movie and must say that it was funny, heartfelt, and innovative. Not just a Kevin Smith knock-off, Jeff has taken his own direction making a romantic comedy for people sick of romantic comedies with simple solutions.