Lousy Carter

In terrific indie dark-comedy "Lousy Carter" titular literature professor David Krumholtz (excellent) reacts in philosophic, amusing & cynical ways to being diagnosed with 6 months to live - via interactions with characters like student Luxy Banner (great - on her debut), shrink Stephen Root, ex-gf Olivia Thirlby, boss Randy E Aguebor, & colleague Martin Starr (and his wife Jocelyn DeBoer). All performances are delivered with delicious dead-pan bite, to the credit of director Bob Byington who also wrote its cutting & effective script. At 1hr 20mins it's not the most substantial movie, and it won't excite adrenaline junkies, but it's still highly enjoyable. Good stuff.

A surprising reminder of how not boring it can be to watch two people in a room talking. This is a deadpan, relentless, unexpected, quirk bomb of would-be emotion. Carter feels like a real person, a real person who seems to have very little grasp on his affect on other people, for better and much much worse. It's sadness without tears, lust without sex, love without declarations - and I mean that as a compliment.

I haven't met the minimum character requirement in order to post a review...but lousy carter certainly met the minimum character requirement for a movie, and beyond. Great cast, solid flick.

I think a weaker cast would have seriously hurt this movie. I found parts of the plot to be frustrating and cliched, but the actors, their roles and motivations, and their deliveries on screen sold it for me.

There were some unexplained illnesses, a few standard comedy mix-ups, and an unexpected but not un-forshadowed twist at the end. The execution of this plot by a less experienced cast would have come across poorly.

Another strong point of this movie is its ability to extend the story beyond events and characters that normally would mean the end. More movies should have epilogues. You do not often see a narrative that extends past a few main characters, and I feel that sometimes movies are created without attachment to a greater space. This is not one of those.

Lousy Carter, in a sense this movie was right up my alley, but it never did deliver on much of anything. I don't think the movie intended the viewer to come out of it also thinking.. ''meh''. And become as forgettable as it is. The writing for the main character is to blame here delivering a unsatisfying story and even less to think about.

This is a shame because there's no lack of good performances here. Albeit Krumholtz, it may be the directing, or just the casting, but for me, the character wasn't sold properly, and I felt that the consistency was lacking in the ways he reacted to certain events. I was never able to really pin down the character as it stood in service of the writing that just didn't impress.

Some fine absurdism comedy here and there, and sure, it's a dark-ish comedy. But most of the dialog is just kinda meh. Middle of the road is what I'd describe this movie as, never really has a high point, no memorable characters or moments, and the writing feels lacking. Also some moments just aren't given enough time, at the cost of them feeling more like skits, than scenes. For it's running time it was a long sit.

Directing and editing felt scrappy, not the best movie by a long shot and the editing is not great, with some unintentional mistimed cuts and pacing mishaps.

It's neither a distinct character study or funny dark comedy, so sadly, it falls flat.

This is the best film yet from the sarcastic and cynical Bob Byington. He always references bis mother Mary Byington, not in complimentary terms. Other winners are Frances Ferguson, Registered Sex Offender and Olympia.

It is 10 pm and just the thing if I can find someone to conjugate with while enjoying this wry comedy.

I will then watch those other films: Frances Ferguson, Registered Sex Offender and Olympia.

If this doesn't put me to sleep, I will watch 'Sabrina, 'Charade', The River Runs Through It, 'What is eating Gilbert Grape', 'Lion' and back to 'Infinity Baby' and 'Charade'. That should do it.