I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

Anybody expecting the acerbic wit of Curb Your Enthusiasm (due to Jeff Garlin's presence) or the belly laughs of Something About Mary (due to Sarah Silverman's presence) will be sorely disappointed. The film isn't bad, but "not bad" is hardly a recommendation, which is a shame, because there's some great talent involved. Jeff Garlin seems to have cashed in a lot of favors with Second city alumni and fellow stand-up comics to help him out on his feature film directorial debut, and I'm guessing that none of them will be putting this on their resumés. It's got several inspired plot mechanics that go nowhere, like the fake cast of "Streetcar Named Desire" starring Aaron Carter and Gina Gershon (who are both great at scene stealing, which is quite a feat when you read the laundry list of well known participants) but someone should have told director Garlin that cameos do not a film make. The film is essentially without plot and tends to meander from one situational set-up to the next without really developing a story. This lends an episodic feel at best and at its worst, it comes off as mundane. It seems to be going for an early 90s indie-comedy nostalgia, but it lacks the innovation and quite frankly the era that made those films appealing. It's shot well, but still has a stagy, direct-to-video look, and the music is so dinner-theater schmaltzy that you'd swear this was shot-in-Canada (it wasn't). The performers are obviously having a good time, but the whole project seems to be about ten years past relevance, and I -for one- have always hated watching performers have an obviously better time than their audience, but at least nobody is ghost walking through their roles, which lends an improvisational spirit even if it goes nowhere. It's not offensively bad; it's definitely watchable. But if you have any expectations arising from the supporting cast -actors from Little Miss Sunshine, Strangers With Candy, The Simpsons- you'll be more than aggravated that you wasted your time on this rather than rewatching one of those aforementioned titles instead. And with the title "I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With" they've all but assured that nobody's going to watch it anyways. You can do a lot worse, but you can do a whole lot better, too.

My original title for this review was going to be, "Ending disappoints, Film triumphs." But I actually thought about this one on the way home. It is not the fairy tale most of these films are, it takes turns that are different and while its ending is at first disappointing, it slowly sinks in and hits the core on a satisfying tone.

The plot follows a man named James Aaron(Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin, who also wrote and directed) a struggling actor who lives in Chicago with his mother and deals with both his obesity and his inability to find someone to love.

Yes, it sounds corny, but it experiments with elements that make it somewhat unpredictable, and actually makes you wish it were longer. The ending came kind of abruptly and had me saying, "that's it!?" But once it starts to take it's toll, it really makes you smile.

It does have many tones of seriousness throughout, but fear not, for it is also very funny. Some scenes offer huge laughs, and those who have seen Jeff Garlin's stand-up will recognize a couple (Primarily when he gives a speech at career day for his niece's kindergarten class and bombs). It begins on somewhat of a serious note that you do not expect, but what follows is very funny, entertaining, and quite poignant as well. It is the kind of movie that you keep watching and always enjoy. And as I said before, while the ending may seem absurd at first, once you take time to think about, it is a true joy.

Garlin did a great job. Nice concept well executed, and tightly produced. Came across as a very sincere story. As a fan of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", where Jeff was pretty much the straight guy role, I was delighted with how much depth he brought to this role in a simple yet effective portrayal.

Much of the humor was understated and subtle and drew on poignancy, which I really liked, rather than being slapstick or over-explained. And there were some nice little surprises and twists. The convenience store vignettes were a delight.

When I say it is a wonderful "small" film, I don't mean budget or quality. It is simple, intimate and hand-crafted. It tells a highly believable everyday story. Relax and go see it. Let it wash over you, and you will feel good for having done so.

I enjoyed this film for the most part, but there are a lot of problematic things I'd like to point out.

First, let's say what's good about the film. It's clever, and the characters are well rounded and quite honestly, the main character is entertaining in his own awkward way. The love interest aspect of the movie actually ends up taking a backseat to this man's somewhat depressing life, but the film never stops being a little charming. The problem, though, is that it's been advertised as a romantic comedy. It's not.

Mostly it's a sitcom in the form of a full length feature. Anyone familiar with the formula of Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm will recognize the setup of many jokes and situations throughout the film (Jeff Garlin is a producer and character on CYE, so this shouldn't come as a surprise that they're very similar. Even down to the soundtrack.) My girlfriend and I picked this one up after seeing the trailer and thought it would be a funny romantic comedy. But, as I've already said, the relationship aspect to the film is only a side note. Sara Silverman's character gets maybe a total of fifteen minutes on screen, and is not anything like the trailer portrays. To make a long story short, my girlfriend fell asleep a long while before the movie ended, and I, while I thought it had it's funny moments and made a decent "indie" film about the life of a depressed overweight man, was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a stronger romantic aspect to it since that's what I was expecting. The movie in its entirety seems like Jeff Garlin's attempt to emulate the style and comedy of Curb Your Enthusiasm with a slightly more true-to-life tone. I could see this main character becoming a character in a sitcom, and part of me wonders if this wasn't some type of offshoot of a project that was originally intended to be a sitcom, or something that Garlin hoped would be well received enough for someone to give him his own show.

Six out of ten because of its charm and several funny moments, but seriously disappointed with the misleading advertising.

This movie is like an 80 minutes long episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm", except there is no Larry David, and Jeff Garlin is now the main character. We can say that Jeff would be Larry, and David Pasquesi would be Jeff. This movie is so much like that show, that many of the actors have been on the show, and in some scenes even the soundtrack sounds exactly the same. I don't mean that this is all bad, but Jeff, some originality please.

The movie it self has quite funny parts, but most of the time you are just looking at the screen with no emotions, you are not bored, but you are amused, you don't want to laugh, and you don't want to cry, you are just watching and waiting for something to make you either give up on it, or really want to keep watching it. In fact, that is what I feel when I watch the TV Show also, one more common thing between them.

I was also expecting something more from this movie since most of the actors are well known (in the comedy area). It was a bit of a disappointment in that chapter.

Eitherway, if you like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" you should definitely watch this movie, if you hate it don't watch it. If you are like me and liked some and hated some, watch it because it's only 80 minutes long.