brilliant actors, brilliant editing

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Saw an advanced screening of this movie with a Q&A afterward with Co-Writer/Director Josh Shelov. I was on-set during one of the scenes and I thought this would be an independent PG-13 comedy. Instead, it's a very heartfelt, R-rated comedy with excellent actors. First the movie, it was hilarious! People in the audience were laughing hysterically, so I wasn't alone. To me, there is four parts of this movie. Part 1, 2, and 4 are hysterical, and part 3 was pretty good, but not great. The writing by Josh Shelov and Michael Jaeger is witty, old-school, and just plain funny. It's been a while since I've seen a comedy that isn't sarcasm and too raunchy. This film is raunchy, yes, but in a good way. It's a farce, and a very good one. The story is very right-on and the situations are original and just hilarious. The acting ensemble, including Peter Serafinowicz (voice of Darth Maul/Pete in Shaun of the Dead), Jenna Stern, and Amy Sedaris, are great. Neil Patrick Harris isn't great but it's cool to see him play someone other than a womanizer like Barney. Bonnie Somerville carried the leading role more than Harris. She carried the film with her unique acting skills. Another scene stealer was Christopher McDonald (remember? Shooter MaGavin in Happy Gilmore). He is a very funny guy and he needs to stick with comedy and not those TNT shows. Overall, funny movie. If I say anymore about the story, I'll spoil it. I'm saying, anyone would be up for a real surprise. After the film, Josh Shelov spoke to everyone in the audience. I asked him a few questions. He is witty and original guy, and if you ever see an advanced screening with a Q and A with him, ask him about his big break. It's a very fascinating and appalling story. See this movie...

If an armed assailant pointed a loaded weapon at my head and demanded that I describe The Best and the Brightest in only two words, I would have to go with "utterly refreshing."The new comedy is a studio quality production crafted at the independent level, and perhaps even more delightful is that it offers a much needed alternative to the stale formulas that have characterized the majority of mainstream post-nineties comedy films. It's not that the film won't appeal to mainstream audiences, but that it represents the kind of mature yet lighthearted fun that they don't get the opportunity to enjoy much these days. The story centers on a young couple, Jeff and Sam (played by Neil Patrick Harris and Bonnie Somerville) who, after inheriting some money courtesy of a dead aunt, relocate their family to upstate New York. It's when the two middle-class parents take on the task of getting their daughter into an elite private kindergarten that things get deliciously wacky. For Sam, breaking through the stonewall of fake smiles and gag-inducing pretentiousness becomes symbolic of her last shot to have her family move up in the world, and the ridiculous lies she must sustain to blend in with the yuppies propel the comedy forward.Here's the thing: while The Best and the Brightest may not be the perfect film, it's got the perfect measures of all the great comedy ingredients. It's not a one note joke -- it seems that, too often, comedies take one simple idea (drinking, doing drugs, don't have sex with your friends) and stretch it out for two to two and a half insufferable hours. This film actually has a story, and kudos to first time feature film director (and co-writer) Josh Shelov for crafting comedic scenarios which flow naturally from the drama of the story rather than just having the characters sit around talking about how funny they are. The jokes don't need explaining -- probably because they're funny to begin with.The acting from everyone involved is solid and appropriate for this type of film (there's no third act lull where everyone cries for twenty minutes on the off chance they might snag an Oscar nod). Neil Patrick Harris is essentially the straight man here, but without aloofness or condescension, rather with willingness to support his wife even while reacting to the madness of situations that require him to read his friend's filthy, borderline dehumanizing online sex chats at a school board meeting and pass it off as part of his newest poetry anthology.Bonnie Somerville does the impossible, makes us care about the former high school cheer-leading captain, who is still very much in the process of falling more deeply in love with her nerdy husband. Watching her suddenly break from her sweet, mom-like demeanor to drop f-bombs on anyone who threatens her family's security was a source of much amusement. And her interactions with the fast-talking school system consultant Sue Lemon (played with goofy zeal by Amy Sedaris) make for some very quotable lines.The supporting cast does well also. Standouts include Peter Serafinowicz as spoiled man- child Clark who gets drawn into Jeff and Sam's schemes, and the sexually repressed villain played by Jenna Stern, who gets drawn into Clark's shameless sexual escapades. There's also a subplot involving Jeff's ex flame, a mentally unstable actress played by Bridget Regan, who may or may not be trying to win him back by showing off her lovely...feminine assets. Regan's fans will most likely be impressed with her versatility here. She sheds her dignified Seeker persona for an interesting turn as Robin, giving her supporting role depth by not playing Robin as straight up out-of-her-friggin-mind but as someone who just doesn't seem quite right from the neck up. On the outside, Regan looks amazing as usual, and at a pivotal moment when Jeff becomes mesmerized by her beauty while hanging out in a seedy swingers club (you know, the usual), we the audience are right there with him.The Best and the Brightest succeeds on many levels, not the least of which is that it's not just a senseless stream of nut-shots or poop jokes -- the vulgarity here proves that there is, in fact, an art to vulgarity, and it works. There are times when the jokes slow down a bit, which are noticeable when compared to the majority of the fast-talking, laugh-out-loud scenes in the film, but even when the pacing winds down here and there, there's the engaging story and likable characters to keep us eager for the next big moment (a vital factor missing in most film comedies of late). I often found myself postponing laughs because I was so wrapped up in whether the heroes would be foiled in their outrageous quest.From a technical standpoint, the movie looks clean and polished, with good sound mixing so the audience doesn't miss any of the often hilarious banter. The perfectly punctuated finale had me cracking up for a good ninety seconds. And anyone who's ever edited video knows how long a time ninety seconds really is. Catch one of the upcoming screenings of the film, or get it on DVD, then put the kids to bed (or your drunken roommates) and enjoy some real intelligent, adult comedy with no sickening side effects.

I saw this movie at a sneak preview screening in New York in March and I have to say that it's one of the funniest, most original comedies I've seen in a long time. It's not just a stupid-humor movie like the Farrelly Brothers and it's not a fancy highbrow comedy that only certain people will get either.It seems to be about a couple trying to get their daughter into kindergarten, but that's just the setup - their attempts to do so start spinning more and more out of control and it becomes this crazy, fun R-rated farce. The director was at a talkback after the screening and he said he was trying to make a movie in the style of "Tootsie" and "A Fish Called Wanda," and I think he succeeded.Neil Patrick Harris is perfect as the straight man, and Bonnie Somerville is adorable as his wife, but it's the off-the-wall characters around them who really steal the show: Amy Sedaris as the consultant they hire, Jenna Stern as the school's headmistress, Christopher McDonald as a Bill Clinton-type, known only as "The Player," Kate Mulgrew as his wife, John Hodgman as a nerdy and hilarious school board member, and British comedian Peter Serafinowicz as NPH's character's oversexed best friend.There are two particularly hysterical sequences in the movie that I won't spoil, but totally brought the house down at my screening - a book club scene, where all of the above characters have to read some R-rated "poetry" and discuss it like they're in class, and a fundraiser/party scene where NPH's character is put on the spot and has to try to deliver his "poetry" live.Find a way to see this movie. You won't be sorry.

When I saw the cover for this movie I was a bit excited as I saw Neil Patrick Harris was on the cast. So it was with some anticipation that I sat down to watch this movie.And now that I have seen it, I sit with an overwhelming sensation that just screams "was this movie really necessary?" The storyline told in "The Best and the Brightest" is fairly easy, almost too simple actually. A family moves to New York and have to find a kindergarten for their daughter. Then in order to get into this fancy kindergarten, events start to unfold and roll downhill, escalating into something bigger and bigger. The deeper the parents go in, the harder it gets to come clean.The cast list, does hold some rather good names, and some performances were actually alright. However, I was really, really disappointed with Neil Patrick Harris's (playing Jeff) performance in the movie, it was so tame compared to how he was in previous movies and TV series. Peter Serafinowicz (playing Clark) and Jenna Stern (playing Katharine Heilmann) were the ones carrying the weight of the movie and making it bearable to sit through. And the role and performance of Christopher McDonald (playing The Player) was a really good injection of comedy for the movie. He is just superb.Now, as for a comedy, there were surprisingly few places throughout the movie that had me laughing. Sure there were lots of scenes that could have been made to force laughter, but failed to do so. So I wouldn't go out and watch this with the intention to be entertained for the sake of laughs."The Best and the Brightest" is, sadly, one of those movies that comes by, dies off silently in the night, and is quietly forgotten.