Powerful

Just perfect...

Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I'm not sure whether Addicted to Fresno is a tribute to the fifth biggest city in the state of California, or a bitter revenge from one of its native daughters (screenwriter Karey Dornetto, who has worked for excellent TV series such as Community, South Park, Arrested Development and Portlandia), who seems to be perversely enjoying to laugh at the suffocating weather, absence of culture and supposed apathy from the inhabitants of that region. What I can assure is that Addicted for Fresno is definitely not a good film, despite having various brilliant actresses in its cast; it's truly a sin to gather Judy Greer, Aubrey Plaza, Natasha Lyonne, Jessica St. Clair and Molly Shannon in one film, and not offering them enough material to exploit their talent. The main reason I was interested in watching Addicted to Fresno was Greer's presence in the leading role. This magnificent actress has suffered uncountable "best friend" roles during her long filmography, and she had been deserving a project for herself for many years (even though it can be said that she shares the leading role with Lyonne in this movie). Pity that it wasn't in a good film... I hope the future will allow her to star in films with better screenplays and less irritating characters. In conclusion, Addicted to Fresno is an irritating and unfunny "comedy" (the affair with the corpse doesn't even reach the level of Weekend at Bernie's), and I felt it like a waste of time. Director Jamie Babbit previously made a few films I liked very much (But I'm a Cheerleader, Itty Bitty Titty Committee), and I hope her to recover from this misstep in her next project.

"Siblings can really sink each other." Not words commonly heard or realized often, but perhaps ones that can be true given particular circumstances. It's a theme that rings factual throughout this film, however unrealistic the scenarios.Addicted to Fresno follows two sisters in Shannon (Judy Greer), a seemingly recovered sex addict who has very little moral compass, and Martha (Natasha Lyonne), an eternal optimist who is always going over the top to help her sister with her issues and devotes very little attention to her own well-being. The two work as maids at a local hotel in their hometown of Fresno--a city where not much happens and the people there hate it yet can't seem to get out. Shannon's antics come to a nadir when she accidentally kills a man. She and her sister attempt to escape the mess, which will prove to either help or harm their already rocky relationship.It's definitely an anti-sibling movie--or at least it wants to be. I think mainly it strives to show us that the world is not as black and white as we have been brought up believing. Society tells us that as long as we hold on to family we'll be okay in the end. But sometimes they're the ones holding us back.The small town trope plays on the whole "being held back" theme. The girls are two complete opposite personalities, yet they both manage to become complacent in a city that doesn't offer much for either of them.The film is never hilarious, but does a good job of keeping the tone jovial throughout with some black comedy nuances and some enjoyable sequences thrown in, like a 13-year-old bar mitzvah boy performing a highly vulgar song filled with Jewish puns in front of his gasping relatives.We get some nice scenes from the supporting cast as well, including Fred Armisen as Gerald, the owner of a pet cemetery, who doesn't get nearly enough screen time, and Aubrey Plaza as Kelly, Martha's personal trainer, who gets plenty of screen time but is mostly underutilized. Solid scenes from Molly Shannon, Malcolm Barrett, and Kumail Nanjiani are mostly what make this film watchable. The timing of the two leads compliments their chemistry very well, but they are given very little in terms of laughable material. I understand that it's supposed to be somewhat of a black comedy, but it never fully commits. It's not obvious enough and most people may just chalk it up to being unfunny. The storyline is intriguing enough and I like most of the decisions that it happens to make, but if we're going to be sitting down to view a comedy we need to know what we're watching.Although a little uneven in terms of comedic tone, the laughs are there if you know where to find them. The story is one that hasn't really been told in quite this fashion before and the themes are relatable regardless of the impractical lengths of which it chooses to showcase them by. It helps that both characters are deep enough to attach ourselves to. It's not a terrible film by any means, it just speaks to a very specific crowd. And since its role as a comedy wears a bit thin, we may be tempted to dismiss the story as merely trivial.Twizard Rating: 74 **Review can also be found at http://movies.mxdwn.com/reviews/movie-review-addicted-to-fresno/

Greetings again from the darkness. It's not quite a unicorn, but it seems fair to call it a White Harbour Porpoise. Yes, it's that rare to see a Comedy movie written by a woman, directed by a woman, starring women in a story about women. And it's that rarity which makes it all the more disappointing when the finished product doesn't match the expectation.The cast is loaded with funny people, many of whom are best known for their work on TV. However, that's not what makes this feel like an aimless TV sitcom straining too hard to make us laugh, often through cheap shock value. The movie leaves us with the feeling that writer Karey Dornetto ("Portlandia") and director Jamie Babbit (But I'm a Cheerleader, "Gilmore Girls") have spent too many hours studying the work of Judd Apatow, rather than letting their own voices speak. We are teased with glimpses, but mostly just left wanting.On the bright side, Judy Greer finally gets a lead role after seemingly hundreds of support roles where she has often been the best thing about a movie. Yet somehow the filmmakers manage to dull Ms. Greer's natural glow as she plays Shannon, a registered sex offender with little desire to break her sex addiction, or even become the least bit likable. The very talented Natasha Lyonne plays Martha, Shannon's younger lesbian sister who is her personality polar opposite, yet never can quite escape the "bad luck" following her around.Martha decides to make Shannon's recovery her mission in life, and secures her a job so they can work together as maids at a local motel. What follows is an accidental murder, a frantic attempt to dispose of the body, a mentally challenged housekeeping supervisor, multiple instances of sexual confusion, a sex shop hold-up, blackmailing pet cemetery owners, a profane rapping boy at his bar mitzvah, an inappropriate relationship with a therapist that breaks up a marriage, and a running gag with a chubby hotel guest in a Hawaiian shirt carrying a little dog. All of that zaniness leads to a disproportionately few number of laughs, although we do get a terrific Cousin It impersonation and an extremely rare (maybe a first ever?) Hammer-throw joke.What's lacking here, despite the best efforts of Ms. Greer and Ms. Lyonne, is any semblance of humanity or realism … necessities for comedy. We just never make any connection with the main characters. The supporting cast provides numerous diversions and feature the familiar faces of Ron Livingston (the therapist mentioned above), an underutilized Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon, the duo of Fred Armisen and Alison Tolman playing opportunistic small business owners, Jessica St Clair as one of the more emotional front desk clerks you'll ever see, Jon Daly as one of the more unfortunate characters, and Malcolm Barrett as Shannon's latest love interest/poet.Of course, in keeping with the film's title there is a never-ending stream of insults directed at the city of Fresno. If that much attention had been paid to the sister relationship and the forming of characters, perhaps the comedy would have been more effective. Instead, if you are all set on watching sisters working together in the clean-up business, the better recommendation would be Sunshine Cleaning.

I was attracted to this film by the cast. Nevertheless, as so often (far too often) the cast was let down by poor storytelling.I'm not American (I spend a lot of time here with work) however even I felt patronised by the story. I found it to ooze condescension. Not for one moment do I believe any of those involved in the writing/creating of this film are from Fresno or are working class. Now! You may say that is of no importance, but it is very important, as it leaves this story shallow/soulless & soulless is the best way I can describe Addicted To Fresno. Well! Soulless & patronising.NB. When there is no love or connection to an environment in which a story is told, things will fall flat. Simply put, it's not very good. There's no cohesiveness. It's not an outright comedy (although it's cast for one) nor is it a tumbleweed tale (it lacks too much soul for that).* By "tumbleweed tale" I mean contemporary American versions of kitchen-sink dramas/comedies like Napoleon Dynamite or even Fargo.