Highly Overrated But Still Good

Expected more

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

You know that moment when you're around people who are trying to be more clever than they actually are? Trying to appear witty and edgy and oh, so avant guard? The type of person who puts a book by Joseph Campbell next to something by Lynda Barry on the coffee table because they want to be seen as hip intellectuals, edgy social commentators on the human condition? The type of person who wears mis-matched socks because they refuse to conform to convention? The type that wants you to acknowledge their nonconformity and free, independent spirit. The type who has business cards made up that say "Artist"? That's what this movie felt like. My wife and daughter and I watched this through cable streaming (there's $8 I'll never see again) because it looked a quirky, independent comedy, and we love quirky independent comedies. And because it had Nick Offerman in it. Well...it was probably independent, but it wasn't quirky or a comedy. And I'm horrified that Hollywood may be right about greenlighting movies based solely on genre and name-brand actors, because, like I said, they have my $8.First, the good: Alex Ross Perry as the Pizza and Ice Cream store's first customer was wonderful.Stood out from the crowd and as far as I was concerned was the only redeemable moment in the film. He's a good actor and since he was nominated for a John Cassevetes award (For a different film) this year, we'll probably get to see more of him.That's it. About 1 1/2 minutes. The rest was too busy trying to be clever and witty and charming and edgy to be any of those. The screenplay was banal, the casting was god-awful (just goes to show how important casting is), and Shawn Price Williams's cinematography was really bad - full of amateurish mistakes. I thought the manic zooming in Jeff, Who Lives at Home was bad, but the overexposed shots in this film were worse. Did not serve the story at all and seemed to have no rationale other than an impulsive need to seem arty at random places. I'd swear that once Williams opened the iris in the middle of a shot. No reason. Just did it. I love Offerman. I love Alex Ross Perry. Everything else...no. Can't recommend it. I can't lay out all the lame, pretentious plot problems because they are spoilers (there's a joke there somewhere), but it reads like a film that had huge problems getting finished and was shot largely without a script - constructing story as they went.

First of all, this is a great film with a great humour.It's enjoyable to watch because the film doesn't try to force wit on you and try to convince you that it's funny.But on another note, I am just writing this review to tell everyone not to listen to the reviews complaining about people not getting older in the film. IF you would pay attention to the plot and watch the film to the end (as you are supposed to, or am I wrong?) then you'd understand why they did that on purpose. I think it is really worth watching if you like these kind of independent films (such as Scott Pilgrim, Dirty Girl etc.)

I ended up renting this movie on On Demand because Nick Offerman was promoting it. Even though the movie is only a little over an hour, it feels much longer. It's genre is listed as a comedy, but there is truly nothing funny about it. All the characters are unlikable and unsociable. And why I had to list spoiler alert... Everyone in the movie has sex with the other. It was so incest-driven. To top it off, no one in the entire movie ages except for the kid, which ruins the timeline all together. When the characters are supposed to be in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, they still look like they're 25. Just because a movie is dry and an independent release doesn't mean it's good or that you have to be the "right kind of person" to "get it". Sometimes, movies are just crappy. Like this one.

I'm not usually a fan of these new American independent movies...they're mostly insipid, badly shot wrecks, but this was not that. I caught SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME at the Viennale and would highly recommend it. It was one of the few comedies that I saw there, and I'm happy to say that I laughed a lot. It has oddball charm, a story conceit similar to Bunuel, and tenderness at its core. I really loved the lead actor's performance. The director has a voice and characters that know how to speak it. It makes me want to see this Bob Byington's other movies. It also makes me want to see more comedies. What's wrong with people being so serious all the time? Boring, pretentious. I could go on and on...but what it boils down to is this: go see this and laugh and feel something, because you don't want to end up like the main character in it, trust me - that's why you should see it, so you know what you might become if you're numb to laughter.