My Dead Boyfriend

Mary, who is living with Primo, whom she considers a rather loser, gets fired from her temp job and comes home to find him dead. The humor is on the flippant side, and not for all tastes. But Mary finds out that not only do most people know who Primo is, many have slept with him, and some consider him quite an accomplished artist. She finds out he had an entire life she knew nothing about. But then she hadn't been with him that long. And her circle of friends are some interesting characters. It is a breezy and fun movie but not something of a great cinematic feature.

As others have outlined, this is a story about an underachiever who gets fired from her temp job and comes home to find her boyfriend, Primo, sitting dead in front of the TV. She starts to learn about a colorful secret life that he had while with her and before meeting her.

The premise is interesting, but there is some unevenness to the delivery and unfortunately Heather Graham's delivery of lines is even worse. There is an attempt at dark comedy, but it is not subtle. That said, her adventure in discovering Primo's past via a diverse selection of his friends and family is watchable, especially since it is set in New York.

It's pre-2000 NYC. Mary McCrawley (Heather Graham) gets fired from her temp job. She comes home to find her loser temp boyfriend Primo Schultz (John Corbett) dead in front of the TV. She's left with his dog. It's a long line of loser temp boyfriends. Zoe (Katherine Moennig) is her best friend. She's mildly taken with Joey Lucas (Griffin Dunne)'s credit card. Helene (Gina Gershon) tells her about Primo who seems to be completely different than the loser that she knew. Howard (Scott Michael Foster) inspires her to write about him and enter into a contest. She finds his baby mamma Sue Watt and joins her band.

I love Graham but she's not a lead comedian type. She's more of a straight man who can do odd deadpan. I can't tell if the material is actually funny but the movie isn't. It's mildly quirky at best. This character would be cute as a twenty something slacker. As a thirty something, it's no longer cute. I don't hate this except for its weak attempts at being funny.

The story is so messed up it is mesmerizing. It is a unique look at someone who is dead and offers an engaging voyage of discovery and misadventure.

I took a chance on this movie after seeing the low IMDb ratings, largely because it starred the magical Heather Graham. And boy, does she deliver. For example: Every time she tells someone that her boyfriend is dead, check out her casual, distant, throwaway delivery of the line. It's slightly different but funny each time. That's craft!

The supporting cast shares Graham's idiosyncratic acting style, which works well with the odd but interesting plot twists and the occasional cartoon animations that are tossed in randomly and never really explained. But somehow, they seemed to fit. Some of the lines were laugh-out-loud funny. A weird comedy about someone's dead boyfriend may not be to everyone's taste, but if it sounds intriguing, check this one out.