It's a Disaster

It's a Disaster (2012)

You might not click with this movie right away, or at all, if you don't like the very ordinary style and very ordinary people this group of eight is meant to portray. I recognized too many of my friends, or friends of friends, in these clichéd types of people, and thought the acting and the situation very realistic.

Realistic within the bounds of a really funny somewhat absurdist comedy.

At first you have a gossipy parody of a weekend "couples brunch" where four couples converge, and have been regularly converging, to catch up and have fun. Except that secretly many of them really dread it, and there is some posing and whispering. As a viewer you enjoy the repartee, which is often pretty funny in a laugh out loud way, and you also try to figure out who is who, and whose is whose (the couples include at least one case of infidelity between them which complicates that part).

And I admit I might not have lasted an hour and half of this interplay, no matter how well performed. (To be emphasized, all eight are vivid and convincing in their own ways. It's the core of the movie that these are believable types.)

But you won't need patience once the huge (huge) twist comes along. It's a classic "ship of fools" scenario, and it's compressed into a very short space: a bunch of distinctive types of people find themselves trapped together in a crisis. That's just the interesting starting point, because it's how, exactly, those kind of people respond to crisis that makes it fascinating.

It works. We get to know the four or five most important people really quickly and when things shift and reactions mount--and the jokes keep flowing--you'll be right along for the ride. Some might call this a dark comedy since the backdrop becomes exceedingly dire, but the reality of that darkness is never salient. The humor, right to the very last three seconds, is cutting and bright.

Why, quite, this isn't a masterpiece is one of those amorphous mysteries of the movies. It lacks, I suppose, some sense of air, or of knowing-ness, or of a style that suffuses whether you quite realize it or not. Something about the very ordinariness of it all makes it wriggle in a sufficiency that keeps it from rising up, or getting really gritty. I don't think it's a flaw. It might even wear well over the years. But it makes some of the weaker characters and weaker lines glare just slightly.

See this? Yes! If you just hate the characters after ten minutes, you might give up. Even after the big twist about twenty minutes in the movie is very character driven. But if you sort of like their company and their humor, dive in and hang on. It's a hoot.

I saw this today as part of the New Orleans Film Festival. It is so funny, yet I think still pretty realistic (to an extent). I believe they said it would have a limited theater release in February (the director hopes on Valentines Day because that would be so funny considering the context of the film), and he said it should release on iTunes the same day, so you can see it anywhere. I definitely cannot wait until then so I can see it again. I'd say it's not a movie for everybody because some of the humor is a bit out there, but it's totally my taste, and it's not often I like comedies. The story was well written, and the characters change throughout the film, and it's really interesting how each character handles the disaster differently, and you can really relate to at least one of them. There are even some great surprises throughout the film. I was fortunate enough to hear the director speak about his film afterwards, and he really tuned us in to some of the foreshadowing elements present, and that's one of the reasons I want to see it again. This movie is perfect for anyone who has ever been in any sort of relationship and who doesn't have your conventional sense of humor.

I was surfing through Netflix, where this movie has a nearly 5-star rating, and watched because of that (very few Netflix movies rank that high). I didn't even read the preview.

I figured it was a comedy because David Cross is in it, but he seemed at first to be playing such a straight role that I thought this was a drama. It ALMOST lost me until the moment the characters learned they were all about to die, at which point I couldn't stop laughing!

It begins with several couples talking about inane and stupid things, much like an episode of Seinfeld. Just go with it because your reward is to come.

It's as if Jerry, Elaine, George, Newman and Kramer are facing the end of the world, joined by Elaine's new boyfriend, David Cross. These characters all face death with the same focus on petty minutiae in their final hours as the Seinfeld cast would. It's hilarious!

I came to watch this movie because I'm a David Cross fan and it's the type of premise that appealed to me. I thought it did a great job of depicting the disaster w/out spending a lot of money. Special effects budget was probably somewhere around 200 bucks. It's structured similar to that Jodie Foster/John C. Reilly movie that came out recently, i.e. a couples get-together. Very funny but a lot of it might go over peoples heads if they're into more obvious comedies. It's starts easy, paced well throughout and had a great ending. A really good ending. I really want to mention my favorite parts but I wouldn't want to give any kind of spoiler. David Cross is a good barometer for whether or not you'd enjoy this. If you've heard his stand-up anyways. Watch it, and if you didn't like it, sorry. Just go watch Big Momma's House again and bask in your impeccable taste for comedy and superior intellect. Ciao homies.

"It's a Disaster" turned out to be anything but a disaster. This movie really took me by surprise, and turned out to be a really great movie. Especially because of the colorful and interesting characters that were portrayed in the movie.

The story is about a couples brunch that goes totally awry when a disaster strikes downtown, putting the couples patience, trust and friendship to the test.

There is a good amount of laughs in the movie, and they work out well because the scenes are nicely choreographed and planned. But what really makes this movie work is the characters in the movie, and the actors/actresses that were on the cast list to portray these characters. In my opinion, then America Ferrera and David Cross stood out from the others, and did a marvelous job. That being said, I am not saying that the rest of the cast didn't do a great job, far from it. The best character in the movie, however, was Hal Lousteau (played by Todd Berger). It was just a shame that he wasn't in the movie all that long.

The type of comedy found in "It's a Disaster" is the type of comedy that you'll either enjoy tremendously or not at all. Personally, I found it very enjoyable, and the movie really entertained me.

If you enjoy comedies and want something that is not overly Hollywood-mainstream, then give "It's a Disaster" a go - it might just be the thing you have been looking for.