I loved this movie. It so captures the empty soul-searching life of modern pampered Americans. I was impressed by the writers capturing the whole New York artiste vibe, and then I learn the two gals are the writers, as well as directors. This made the movie go from funny to hilarious. Such perfection in self-parody we have not seen since Tropic Thunder. It's an exercise in self-absorption that is making fun of self-absorption. Crystalline fractal perfection.
They had the whole East Coast/West Coast thing going on too. I was reminded of that Woody Allen line about how, "People in LA just eat dinner and watch movies." Wouldn't that be the perfect way to format the LA Times newspaper? Two big columns, one for movies, one for restaurants. In more unintentional self-parody, in real life, the brainier-acting gal did end up moving from New York to LA. In real life, the blond writer/director/actor (a super slashie!) just hung around until she spawned and had a kid a few years ago. Welcome to reality, blondie.
The film is an anthropological delight. As a tech worker, my tribe has given you Earthlings a life better than any 19th century king or queen. So I am fascinated by the huge bulk of people too lazy or scared or narcissistic to get a useful job. You know, something like brick-layer, scientist, historian, lawyer, doctor, AC repairman, or grocery bagger. Oh, you enjoy the fruits of my tribe's labor, while making fun of us, as it's been from Junior High to sitcoms like Big Bang Theory. And now you sit around basking in leisure, only to end up not only being useless, but enshrining uselessness.
And the feelings, oh the feelings! It is wonderful to see people who operate purely on feelings, with nary a rational thought clouding their judgement. Getting evicted? No problem, take a private jet vacation, while pouting that mommy and daddy don't love you. And what aspirations. Not making the world the tiniest bit better for humanity or farm animals or plankton. No, one plays pretend in an insurance commercial, while the other one fills prophylactics with sand, and declares, It's Art!
Speaking of art, more multi-level joy with the LA performance piece, which was, you have admit, pretty dang good. It lacked the stark simplicity and ennui of the performance of The Dude's landlord in The Big Lebowski, but it was still excellent. I am not being sarcastic. Let's see you come up with something so smart and fun, and then do it in front of other human beings. The trash-bag art and fashion also evoked images of the tremendous Derilicte campaign in Zoolander. It used things well-done to make fun of things poorly done, only most people can't tell the difference. Check out Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael to see more slagging of LA culture and movie star aspirations. As a bonus, the blond in this movie looks like a cross between Paris Hilton and Winona Ryder.
Which might provide a good juncture to note just how good the acting in this movie is. That these two gals are not A-list superstars highlights the exigencies and vicissitudes of the acting profession. That and not being a nepo baby. It's too bad, but they are still young, so maybe future glory awaits.
And now I have to read Chekhov since he was name-dropped in the movie. And yeah, even I knew they were not talking about the Chekhov in Star Trek. Chekhov's play, The Seagull, is free on Project Gutenberg. The gals intentionally mangled the Chekov quote, so here is is, since you are too lazy to check it out yourself:
"All men and beasts, lions, eagles, and quails, horned stags, geese, spiders, silent fish that inhabit the waves, starfish from the sea, and creatures invisible to the eye-in one word, life-all, all life, completing the dreary round imposed upon it, has died out at last." Anton Checkov
Which gets you thinking, Hey, maybe the whole purpose of technology is to support the arts?
