LolliLove

As a fan of the good people at Troma's work and ideals, it was on visiting the Troma site that I stumbled on this gem; a mockumentary about helping the homeless by giving them lollies, Lollilove is a sharp satire about helping those less fortunate and a strong debut from Jenna Fischer, but not without flaws.

The characters are well written, and the cast are believable and funny. Even Lloyd Kaufman, in one of his stronger role, as Father Lloyd. James Gunn gets most of the laughs as the ridiculous artist husband, making a number of very un-pc statements - his character is improved for it. The editing, though, is the films trump card, making the film hold together better than most mockumentaries (and a lot of the Troma back catalogue for that matter), looking a lot more professional than its meagre budget justifies. Though Lollilove isn't your average Troma picture and probably won't please all Troma fans, this does share the Troma independent spirit and the dark macabre humour.

That said, there are flaws, the major one being its length; a 65 minute running time, which for a feature film is not long enough to be truly satisfying, at least to this cinephile; yes, the deleted scenes on the DVD would have harmed the film had they been included, but Lollilove would have benefited an extra day or twos shooting, and 10 minutes more the running length. One clumsy directorial choice was the bleeping of swearing, intended to make Lollilove more like a TV show, but seems out of place given the dark nature of humour. Also, a couple of points in the film the joke ratio isn't as strong as it could be, especially when compared to the work of Christopher Guest (a tough comparison point, being that he's an auteur of this genre).

Though not perfect, Lollilove is a wicked satire, a promising debut, and a good Troma title to boot. Perhaps to fully appreciate this film, it is necessary to note the low budget production values, and the work done between husband and wife Jenna and James Gunn. This is worth further investigation if your a fan of mockumentaries, and have a dark sense of humour.

I love it, it's all they ever needed. All the cold, lonely nights, and the begging for change. Not to mention the drugs and alcohol. All that crummy luck had a solution all along, just staring us right in the face. Lollipops!! Of course, why didn't I think of that?

Jenna Fischer directs herself, as well as her husband, James Gunn as "superficial, clueless versions of themselves" in the smartest Troma comedy of the decade, or probably ever, Lollilove. Certainly more original than it may, at first, seem , Lollilove is a mockumentary about an incredibly self involved, yuppie couple,"James and Jenna". Jenna, an ex-model, is looking to get her name back out there, just a little notoriety. Maybe all these celebrities who start charities (only for the good of their careers) are on to something. Then again, all that stuff sounds kind of hard. After loads of soul searching, Jenna figures out a way to impress everybody without putting herself out too much. With the help of her husband, James "wrote Tromeo & Juliet" Gunn, Jenna buys tons of lollipops to hand out to the homeless, so they can realize that they matter. James is even using his "artwork" to design the wrappers, with positive slogans, and everything. So, those filthy bums can finally realize how special they really are. it's gonna be sweet!!

Wait, what? The company which makes these lollipops are now threatening legal action against the Gunns? Don't they know poor Jenna is only trying to be famous? I told you this charity stuff was hard.

Don't ever say (hot) women can't be funny. Jenna Fischer obviously knows what's funny, and it shows in some of her priceless facial expressions. And James Gunn is equally hilarious as a smug, germ-phobic jackass who is just a little too pleased with himself. These two really make this type of comedy work (the censors were actually a nice touch), which is not the usual type of comedy that the Troma team goes for, but somehow, that works as well, just an all around swell hour of entertainment. For more in hilarious mockumentaries (with food in the title) check out the more mean-spirited, Dirty Cop No Donut. Lollilove is mostly for those who appreciate edgy satire, but, especially recommended to those who just plain love to laugh. 8/10

Knowing that this movie was made with such a tiny budget really is amazing. The idea is just genius: a yuppie couple decide to give out lollipops covered in "designer wrappers" hoping to inspire the homeless to get jobs, stop doing drugs, or even stop blowing up planes (with James' characters Mustafa and Osama bin Awesome). Of course, their idea is met with a lot of skepticism as well as downright anger, but Jenna and James fight through this negativity and get to live out their "dream." And fail. It's not politically correct, and it's not glossy or perfect, but goddamnit, that's the way movies should be! See this movie!

2004, Year of Shrek 2, Spider-Man 2, The Incredibles, Sideways, Harry Potter 3 or whatever, but I never heard of this. LolliLove sounded a little odd at first, not gonna lie. When I saw it was a satire and it starred Jenna Fischer and James Gunn, two of some of my favorite filmmakers, I was sold.

Now, Amazon Prime is doing 7 day trials, and this movie was on there. It's on Vudu and Tubi for free as of 4/20/2020, so anyone with internet has no excuse to not go check it out, Right now, Stop reading this review, Just watch it.

So, I decided to check it out, It was 6:45 AM, I needed to get to sleep so I could get back to writing when I woke up. It was only 64 mins, so I decided to check it out.

From the beginning, There's narration from someone who I'm willing to bet was just a friend of the Gunns (at the time at least, considering now Fischer and Gunn are divorced) and after he helped write Jenna write it, he said "I WANT TO BE THE NARRATOR!" Jenna and James probably looked at him like he was nuts, but they needed a narrator, so there we go. We got whoever Peter Alton is. The narration isn't bad, although I still think it'd possibly be better without it. HOWEVER, Due to this being a satire, I can understand why so I can't be too angry at it considering I probably would've wrote narration for a satirical documentary if I was the writer.

We immediately, after some amazing shots of California, get straight into the Gunns talking about their marriage (they're divorced). They do share chemistry for sure, They work as a couple in the film about as well you'd expect from a real-life couple, What I'm saying is, They work. Gunn and Fischer are both extremely likable, despite how many lines of Gunn's tend to be offensive (I was not offended because honestly who cares) and Fischer's lines tend to sound somewhat selfish. However, Their acting is so excellent that we can't help but like them.

Immediately, Once they begin the charity work, The hilarity begins. Fischer begins calling probably every single company in California (although I'm going to guess the calls were staged). It's hilarious to see this woman scream curse words at random Company peeps and Gunn seeming to fail at almost everything he attempts to do. Gunn becomes obsessed with the drawings. He urinates on paper, He screams at the paper, It's awesome to see Gunn play this ridiculous version of himself.

Eventually, After Fischer continues to be hilarious and Gunn feel like a crazy slasher killer about his drawings, Someone named Larry Fitzgibbon, a company person, gives them a chance. They begin their presentation, and this is where a subplot about their marriage comes in. After the presentation, Larry seems as if he's going to give them the money-- BEFORE he wants to see the lollipops.

This is where that marriage plot begins to kick in, Gunn blames Fischer for the lack of lollipops and then they improvise something. However, Gunn takes all the credit, and as they leave, They speak to a woman who wants to volunteer. Gunn then calls her beautiful (THE woman who wants to Volunteer, by the way), which causes Fischer to give her infamous death stare for anyone familar with her filmography/her role in The Office (US). Then once they're about to get in their car, They break. Fischer goes nuts and screams curse words once more (and it's still funny and awesome to see this actress going nuts to her husband who's playing a self-obsessed/selfish character). Her husband in this film is portrayed as kinda your average self-obsessed character, He even plays GTA instead of helping her with the lollipop artwork!

There's also a lot of cameos by actors and actresses like Judy Greer (who per usual feels like she's bored out of her mind), Jason Segel, and Linda Cardellini, who were dating according to the narrator. There's a funny scene involving Fischer, Gunn, Segel, and Cardellini where the Gunns ask for over 250,000$ for this "LolliLove" charity, in which Segel and Cardellini deliver surprisingly good performances for the cameo roles they have. They pretty much shut the Gunns down as soon as they ask for it.

This kinda begins the characters' downward slope, but I've already explained what went down from there.

Overall, I won't get in to what happens after all the events I mentioned because that is where this film gets better (although it was excellent to begin with) and even somewhat shocking (Lloyd Kaufman has a freaking cameo man!). Overall, Just see it, It's an excellent satire that makes you curious about what would happen next? Due to Fischer and Gunn's divorce, I'd love to see a sequel with Jenna Fischer and Lee Kirk, her now-husband, trying something bigger and better, They have two kids, so maybe that could make a sequel much more interesting! Oh well, It'll probably never happen unless an actual studio asked her to make it, but oh well.

We can at least hope for it to one day happen.

One day.

One day.

Reading aother Review, I felt motivated to watch and review this film. LOLLILOVE got a firm hold of me 10 minutes in...and never let go! Here's a MOCKUMENTARY, set in the L. A. area (Where else, right?), that focuses on the foibles of charity volunteers who do what they do not out of any blind, selfless "Mother Teresa" style commitment to others, but basically because of how it makes THEM feel!!!

With LOLLILOVE, the term "LOW Budget" really doesn't apply...It's more like: "NO Budget"! Apparently, the female lead, Jennifer Fischer(Jenna) also directs, co-wrote the screenplay, provided the storyline and is credited as Illustrator! But if you want a real example of wearing many hats, her husband, Peter Alton, serves as Narrator, Screenplay Co-writer, Composer of Original Music, Film Editor, Cinematographer, Sound Recordist and Graphic Artist! WOW...Talk about a One-Man-Band!

Invariably, these tiny, totally unpretentious film projects are much more successful at making me laugh than your typical, 100-Million-Dollar-Overblown-Formulaic-Hollywood "Comedy"! LOLLILOVE is no exception.

As a Los Angeles area ex-patriot, the obsessively self-absorbed narcissists portrayed here bring back fond memories! Like those self-mesmerized Hollywood publicists, who gradually convince themselves of the veracity of the B. S. press releases they spin for their clients, the would-be-do-gooders in LolliLove seem to have brainwashed themselves into the firm belief that handing a homeless person a designer lollipop with an artsy Pollyanna-style feel-good message on the wrapper will be a life-changing event that will instantly put them on the fast-track to 12-Step Rehabilitation and unbridled success!

Oh, yes...And all this for only a measly $250,000 in charitable, tax-deductible contributions...Why can't they seem to find any contributors?!?! It's inspired, all-in-good-fun, biting satire at its best.

9*********.... ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!