Fourth of July

Saw it at the Schubert Theater in Boston, so I'm admittedly already a fan of the individual styles of Louis C. K. and Joe List, hoping to see something that falls in-between. This film landed on the mark. It showed off a sense of Louis' striking instinct for pushing the boundaries of when I'd be comfortable to laugh (especially around others) and the mindful, vulnerable wit of Joe List being his whole self. From both ends, it inspires something in me that shows off a new independent flavor of laughter that leaps beyond a stale majority of comedy found sifting through on streaming providers or more mainstream outlets. This movie is makes me feel like my vegetables taste like candy. At it's core, this is a movie about something all too familiar to most of us now - about substance use and mental health. Packaged as a movie about getting sober and getting gay, striving to be better because you've seen the consequences of letting go of the reigns. Consequences made by people you still love, no less. Thematically, this film confronts what it's like to have to set boundaries at someone else's party when you're whole life has been full of party fouls. What it's like to have to find the hilarity when someone actively forces you to play something else so they can continue dancing their way. We follow these characters as they balance selfishness and selflessness, seeing the chaos of letting unfold a deep spiral of mental health carnage made bare by generations of bad parents with redemptive intentions. Family includes a whole household literally head by the Priest from Spotlight showing us how you can negatively affect the youth even just by sitting on a boat in silence. Youth that grows to be pushover dads or selfcentered matriarchs both afraid to speak up about the elephant in the room. I endorse the work put into this feature here, and even though these clowns are slinging it around the circuit like it's a bell for turkey dinner, it makes me happy that they're doing it for the right reasons. Even if no one asks me not even once if I'm doing ok after someone I love died. I'm happy even to be a fly on the wall while they show something real in cinema for audiences who need to check their heads. Because it's like getting to stop thinking about your own problems while you're somehow helping even just to be present with someone else's shit for around 90 minutes. I'd say this movie tempted me with trying to become better myself, know my own boundaries, and feel like laughing even when telling the truth gets me in trouble. Trouble lasts just as long as I let it feel too real and not enough funny. Real and funny cinema, like La Vita e Bella but less mass murder and more drunk New England summer lakehouse getaway trips where listening to jazz makes you gay.

I went into this expecting an average movie, but was honestly blown away. With so many overproduced, overacted and overperfected films these days, this one felt truly authentic. Louis CK's writing stands out throughout: Fourth of July delivers genuinely hilarious moments seemingly at every turn. As a master of comedy, Louis understands better than most that great comedy comes from great pain. The film does an exceptional job of exploring the blurred line between surface level "okayness" (aided by humor, beer, and raunchy jokes) and the deeper emotions that we all suppress. By exploring this blurred space, the audience experiences laughter and sadness almost simultaneously. I believe this is the greatest form of comedy, and a reflection of life itself: wanting to cry from pain, but also laughing at the absurdity of it all and ultimately telling yourself the same thing this movie tells you: it's gonna be okay.

Joe List stars as Jeff, three years sober and potentially on the cusp of fatherhood. Jeff fears that he lacks the potential to be a good parent due to his own dysfunctional childhood. To overcome his anxiety at its source, he plans to confront his family of acerbic Bostonians regarding the perceived shortcomings of his own upbringing while at their annual family lakeside gathering in Maine.

First and foremost, the film is hilarious. The sold out crowd at tonight's world premiere at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan was laughing from start to finish. Joe List is great, Robert Kelly steals every scene he's in, and Tara Pacheco provided some excellent subtle humor as the neutral observer. Nick Di Paolo and Louis do not disappoint either.

The cowriting of Joe List and Louis CK seemed to shine through in an introspective and cathartic way from both ends of the spectrum of fatherhood. On one side, trepidation regarding what may be, and on the other end, regret for what has been and can never be undone (portrayed phenomenally through the father character by Robert Walsh).

The casting was fantastic from top to bottom. My only small qualm with the film is that the exposition in the first act was a bit heavy handed. Not really distracting though.

See this movie in theatres if you have the opportunity, it was a great experience to be able to laugh with a crowd of strangers again.

I don't think I've ever seen a movie like this before and I mean that in the best way possible. It's incredibly honest and I think touches on very real dynamics on family and shows them in a very realistic way. Jeff's father is especially sympathetic. Painful movie but it still has a lot of hope too.

So lame that this film is getting shit on by vindictive film critics that insist on ripping anything louis ck does post scandal. This is a very beautiful movie.