Amy Sedaris Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Is This Thing On?,’ starring Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day and Bradley Cooper

October 10, 2025

by Carla Hay

Will Arnett and Laura Dern in “Is This Thing On?” (Photo by Jason McDonald/Searchlight Pictures)

Directed by Bradley Cooper

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy/drama film “Is This Thing On?” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A father, who’s separated from his wife, finds an emotional outlet in stand-up comedy, while he and his estranged wife decide if they get back together or get divorced.

Culture Audience: “Is This Thing On?” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Bradley Cooper, and bittersweet movies about marriage and personal transformations.

Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett in “Is This Thing On?” (Photo by Jason McDonald/Searchlight Pictures)

The comedy/drama “Is This Thing On?” is less about becoming a stand-up comedian and more about whether or not a separated married couple will get back together. The movie’s talented performances mostly overcome the story’s shaggy and uneven tone. At times, “Is This Thing On?” looks like it can’t decide whether it wants to be an acerbic adult drama or a sentimental family comedy. It doesn’t completely succeed at either, but it has enough moments where its shines to keep most viewers interested or curious to see what will happen next.

Directed by Bradley Cooper, “Is This Thing On?” was co-written by Cooper, Will Arnett and Mark Chappell. Cooper and Arnett are two of the producers of the film. “Is This Thing On?” is the third movie that Cooper has directed, following the 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born” and the 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro.” “Is This Thing On?” (which had its world premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival) doesn’t have a celebrity as the protagonist. Instead, the central character is a “regular guy” named Alex Novak (played by Arnett), who lives in New York City and is having a mid-life crisis that leads to a personal crossroads. (“Is This Thing On?” was filmed on location in New York City.)

In the beginning of the movie, Alex is shown looking bored and unhappy at an event where Chinese dragon dancers are performing at the school where his two sons (about 10 and 11 yeas old) are students. Older son Blake (played by Blake Kane) is intellectual and somewhat neurotic. Younger son Calvin (played by Calvin Knegten) is fun-loving and more adventurous than Blake. There’s a reason for Alex’s discontent: He and his wife Tess (played by Laura Dern) have separated after being married for 20 years and knowing each other for 26 years.

Alex’s job isn’t specifically stated in the movie, and he’s not seen at the office where he works. There are some vague references to Alex possibly working in the financial sector. Tess is a homemaker who used to be an Olympic volleyball player in her 20s. She’s been a homemaker for an unnamed period of time—definitely since her children were born. After separating from Alex, Tess starts seeking out job opportunities to become a volleyball coach to Olympic hopefuls.

Alex and Tess didn’t break up because of infidelity, addiction, abuse or financial problems. Their marriage crumbled because Alex and Tess are bored and frustrated with each other and their lives. The movie doesn’t have flashbacks to give any insight into what led up to their decision to separate. However, they are the type of estranged spouses who don’t get into vicious screaming arguments. They try to keep their verbal disagreements as civil as possible.

One night, Alex goes to a comedy club, but he doesn’t have the cash for the $15 admission fee. (It’s a weird contrivance for the movie. Doesn’t Alex have any debit cards or credit cards to pay the admission fee?) When he finds out that it’s open mic night at the club, and anyone who signs up to perform that night will get in the club for free, Alex impulsively decides to perform so he doesn’t have to pay the cover charge.

Alex’s first stand-up set is improvised and somewhat awkward. But he loves the freedom that stand-up comedy gives him to joke about his personal problems and other things in his life. Alex is hooked. He gets to know some of the people who consistently perform at the local comedy clubs. And he begins to consider doing stand-up comedy as a professional career.

Many scenes in “Is This Thing On?” were filmed on location at the Comedy Cellar in New York City with real paying audiences, not people who hired to act as audience members. Comedy Cellar manager Liz Furiati portrays herself in the movie. Amy Sedaris has a small role as the Comedy Cellar’s open mic emcee named Kemp.

Alex discovering stand-up comedy and becoming part of a stand-up comedy community could have been a very intriguing central concept for the movie. However, the majority of “Is This Thing On?” is about Alex and Tess going back and forth about whether or not they want to divorce or save their marriage. The stand-up comedy aspirations take a back seat to this spousal quandary.

The acting performances are credible, but the movie’s story is at times unfocused. Alex’s entrée into the New York comedy scene seems like a detour to the main story about his marital dilemma, when the stand-up comedy storyline and the marital storyline could have existed as parallel routes in a better screenplay. The teaser trailer for “Is This Thing On?” is somewhat misleading because it makes it look like the stand-up comedy storyline is the main story of the film. This “bait and switch” might or might not disappoint some viewers.

Supporting characters in the movie are a bit underdeveloped. Alex’s parents Marilyn (played by Christine Ebersole) and Jan (played by Ciarán Hinds) adore Alex and his family, but that’s all the movie shows about these two grandparents. Marilyn really likes Tess and gets along well with her, so Marilyn is naturally upset that Tess and Alex have split up. Marilyn tells Alex that she still wants to be a friend to Tess.

Alex and Tess, even after they’re separated, still hang out together with two longtime friends: an unhappily married stoner couple named Balls (played by Cooper) and Christine (played by Andra Day), who are the most annoying characters in the movie. Balls and Christine are competitive with Alex and Tess. And that’s all you’ll find out about this insecure “frenemy” couple.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in “Is This Thing On?” is the movie’s superficial depiction of the New York comedy scene. Although the movie has real-life comedians (such as Jordan Jensen, Chloe Radcliffe and Reggie Conquest) portraying themselves, they have cameos, not significant roles, in Alex’s life. Fun fact: “Is This Thing On?” cinematographer Matthew “Matty” Libatique also portrays a stand-up comedian in the movie.

“Is This Thing On?” glosses over or outright ignores how cutthroat and competitive stand-up comedy can be in real life. All the comedians who interact with Alex are immediately helpful and nice to him. If these new acquaintances have any dark sides to their personalities or personal demons (and many stand-up comedians do in real life), you don’t see any of that in this movie. Some of the comedians tell Alex that they think he’s got the potential to be a great and successful comedian, but none of them seem jealous. It’s all too good to be true.

There’s also a climactic scene using the Queen/David Bowie song “Under Pressure” that might remind people of the “Under Pressure” scene in the 2010 comedy/drama “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden and starring Zach Galifianakis. Considering that Cooper and Galifianakis co-starred in “The Hangover” movies together, and Cooper is a well-known movie aficionado, it’s hard to imagine Cooper not being aware of this “Under Pressure” scene in “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” and possibly being inspired by it. It’s not a ripoff scene in “Is This Thing On?,” but more originality was needed for this movie’s climactic scene.

“Is This Thing On?” mostly excels in its performances. Arnett and Dern have believable chemistry as a couple trying to figure out if they should stay married or not, and as parents trying not to let their marital discord be traumatic to their children. Some of the stand-up comedy bits and other scenes are amusing. The movie’s cinematography (lots of shaky-cam closeups) might not be to everyone’s liking. However, as an overall cinematic experience, “Is This Thing On?” hits in enough of the right places to watch the movie at least once and get some enjoyment out of it.

Searchlight Pictures will release “Is This Thing On?” in U.S. cinemas on December 19, 2025.

Review: ‘Smurfs,’ starring the voices of Rihanna, James Corden, Nick Offerman, JP Karliak, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, John Goodman and Kurt Russell

July 16, 2025

by Carla Hay

Ken (voiced by Nick Offerman), Hefty Smurf (voiced by Alex Winter), Smurfette (voiced by Rihanna), No Name (voiced by James Corden) and Brainy Smurf (voiced by Xolo Mariduena) in “Smurfs” (Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

“Smurfs”

Directed by Chris Miller

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in the fictional Smurf Village and various parts of Earth, the animated film “Smurfs” (based on the comic book series of the same name) features a cast of characters that are Smurfs (blue humanoid beings), wizards, and other creatures.

Culture Clash: Papa Smurf, the leader of Smurf Village, is kidnapped by an evil wizard, and it’s up to the rest of the Smurfs and some allies to save Papa Smurf.

Culture Audience: “Smurfs” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Smurfs” franchise, the voice cast and animated films that are formulaic to a fault.

Razamel (voiced by JP Karliak) and Gargamel (voiced by JP Karliak), Papa Smurf (voiced by John Goodman) and Azrael (voiced by Rachel Butera) in “Smurfs” (Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

Even by the simplest of standards for animated films, “Smurfs” is a subpar mess of idiotic dialogue, hyper banality, and unimaginative plot developments that copy superhero movies. Most of the supporting characters have no real purpose but to take up space. “Smurfs” has about 18 characters who have noticeable speaking roles, but the movie cares about only six of these characters, based on how they affect the tepid story.

Directed by Chris Miller and written by Pam Brady, “Smurfs” is part of the “Smurfs” franchise that began in 1958 with a comic book series created by artist Peyo. Since then, there have been numerous “Smurfs” movies and TV series, all of which are about a group of dwarf-sized blue humanoids called Smurfs, who live in Smurf Village. After all these years that the “Smurfs” franchise has existed, “Smurfs” has a very unoriginal concept: Papa Smurf (voiced by John Goodman), the leader of Surf Village, has been kidnapped, and the other Smurfs go on a mission to save him.

Much like the Seven Dwarfs in the “Snow White” fairy tale, Smurfs have names based on their respective defining personality characteristics. They travel in a male-dominated pack that apparently that only makes room for one “alpha female” Smurf. In the case of the Smurfs, this “alpha female” is Smurfette (voiced by Rihanna), who is portrayed in this “Smurfs” movie as sassy but not as smart as she could be.

Smurfette is also an anomaly because unlike the other Smurfs (who are born without the need for female childbirth), she was created by the Smurfs’ arch nemesis: a power-hungry wizard called Gargamel (voiced by JP Karliak), whose main goal in “Smurfs” stories is to capture Smurfs and use them for unscrupulous reasons. It’s just another way of defining the Smurfs world as a world where only males get to create life. In this “”Smurfs” movie, Gargamel is not the chief villain and doesn’t have a lot of screen time.

The original “Smurfs” stories had a problematic erasure of females and made all the Smurfs male, except for Smurfette. This “Smurfs” movie has a more equitable gender balance of Smurf characters, but that still doesn’t make the movie very good. Only the most die-hard Smurfs fans would be able to tolerate the slop that’s doled out in this wretched film.

Most of the other Smurf characters in “Smurfs” are Papa Smurf’s red-haired, self-assured brother Ken (voiced by Nick Offerman), No Name (voiced by James Corden), Moxie Smurf (voiced by Sandra Oh), Hefty Smurf (voiced by Alex Winter), Vanity Smurf (voiced by Maya Erskine), Worry Smurf (voiced by Billie Lourd), Brainy Smurf (voiced by Xolo Maridueña) and Grouchy Smurf (voiced by “Smurfs” director Miller). In the beginning of the movie, No Name is very insecure about not having a name therefore not having an identity. He depends on Smurfette to give him emotional support and pep talks.

Gargamel and his more evil brother Razamel (also voiced by Karliak) belong to the Evil Alliance of Wizards, which has gained possession of thee out of four magical books that bring peace to the universe. Papa Smurf, Ken and their long-lost brother Ron (voiced by Kurt Russell) used to be a trio of superheroes called Smurf Guardians of Good. (For whatever reason, the Smurfs in the movie keep pronouncing “guardians” as “guardianeers,” even though the word “guardianeers” doesn’t exist in the English language.)

Razamel kidnaps Papa Smurf to force Papa Smurf to tell Razamel where to find the missing magical book, which is called Jaunty (voiced by Amy Sedaris) but doesn’t really need to be a talking book. You know the rest: Hijinks ensue. Chase scenes happen. The heroes find themselves trapped in a seemingly impossible situation, but they band together to figure out the problem and fight the villains.

The Smurfs end up in the Australian Outback, where they meet Snooterpoots, who are furry interdimensional creatures that live underground and have a weakness for eating cake. Snooterpoots have mop-like fur in various colors and are slightly smaller than Smurfs. Snooterpoots are also thieves whose specialty is pickpocketing.

The leader of the Snooterpoots is Mama Poot (voiced by Natasha Lyonne), a gravelly-voiced ex-girlfriend of Ken’s. Mama Poot is initially reluctant to help rescue Papa Smurf, but she’s persuaded to when she’s enticed with the reward of cake. There are huge sections of the movie where you only see Mama Poot, Smurfette and No Name. In a movie already overstuffed with characters, “Smurfs” shows various Snooterpots who are seen scurrying around, but only Mama Poot is the only Snooterpoot with a voice, name and personality.

Other characters in the movie include Evil Alliance of Wizards members Asmodus (voiced by Octavia Spencer), Chernobog (voiced by Nick Kroll) and Jezebeth (voiced by Hannah Waddingham); a talking tardigrade (voiced by Jimmy Kimmel); Razamel’s intern Joel (played by Daniel Levy); and Gargamel’s cat Azrael (voiced by Rachel Butera). There’s no point in keeping track of who most of these characters are because most of them are sidelined in service of a story that really focuses on Smurfette, No Name, Mama Poot, Papa Smurf and feuding brothers Razamel and Gargamel.

“Smurfs” copies a multiverse dimension-hopping idea that was in 2023’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” And just when you think “Smurfs” isn’t done imitating a Marvel superhero movie, the reveal of Smurf “demi-god” Ron (who has superhero powers) looks like whoever created Ron is a big fan of Thor and Captain America.

The dialogue in “Smurfs” is bland and often mind-numbing. At one point, Ken says to the group of Smurfs: “You don’t know Smurf about Smurfs.” In another part of the film, the Smurfs end up in Paris. Smurfette knows it’s Paris but can’t explain how she knows, even though the Eiffel is right in front of them. Where’s Brainy Smurf when you need him?

Later in the film, the Smurfs say words what could be curse words but are bleeped out. At first glance, it might seem “edgy” for a “family-friendly” movie to do this, but it’s really lazy comedy. It’s also a thinly veiled and short-lived attempt to keep mature audiences interested in all the drivel.

Much of the marketing for “Smurfs” is promoting Rihanna as the voice of Smurfette. And as expected, there’s an original song (“Friend of Mine”) that Rihanna recorded for the movie, whch shows Smurfette performing the song. It’s a forgettable pop tune that’s a blatant attempt to get awards recognition. Nothing about “Smurfs” is award-worthy or impressively creative.

The movie’s voice performances are visuals adequate, but the screenplay and direction fall very short of being coherent. It’s wasteful, considering all the voice talent involved. “Smurfs” introduces several new characters (Ken, Ron, the Snooterpoots), but does nothing new, in terms of what type of adventure story could be told. Even children (the movie’s target audience) could be very bored by this cash-grab film that make the Smurfs world look like a pile of mushy ideas copied from better movies.

Paramount Pictures will release “Smurfs” in U.S. cinemas on July 18, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on August 12, 2025.

Review: ‘Theater Camp’ (2023), starring Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, Ayo Edebiri, Caroline Aaron and Amy Sedaris

August 4, 2023

by Carla Hay

Molly Gordon and Ben Platt in “Theater Camp” (Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

“Theater Camp” (2023)

Directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman

Culture Representation: Taking place in Passaic County, New York, the comedy musical film “Theater Camp” features a predominantly cast of characters (with some Asians, Latinos and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A financially struggling summer camp, which is for tweens and teens, rehearses and performs an original musical while the camp faces a hostile takeover from an investment company that owns a rival camp.

Culture Audience: “Theater Camp” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and comedies that are satires of summer camps and youthful musical theater.

Jimmy Tatro and Noah Galvin in “Theater Camp” (Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

“Theater Camp’s” mockumentary style of comedy is at times a little too self-aware and smug. However, this movie about a musical theater group at a summer camp makes great use of eccentric and memorable characters who range from charming to annoying. It’s not a classic on the level of 1996’s “Waiting for Guffman,” but “Theater Camp” is the type of movie that is bound to have a very devoted group of fans. “Theater Camp” has its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where the movie won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast.

Directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman (who co-wrote the “Theater Camp” screenplay with Noah Galvin, “Theater Camp” is based on the 2020 short film of the same name, which was directed by Lieberman and had the same writers as the feature-length “Theater Camp.” Both movies have some of the same cast members, including Gordon, Galvin, Ben Platt and Patti Harrison. However, the characters in each are different.

In the feature-length “Theater Camp” (which takes place in Passaic County, New York, and was filmed in Warwick, New York), a longtime summer camp called the Adirond Acts (a play on words of the Adironacks Mountains in New York state) is on the verge of shutting down, due to financial problems. The children who attend this camp range in ages from 10 to 17. Amos Klobuchar (played by Platt) is the camp’s head of drama. Rebecca-Diane (played by Gordon) is the camp’s head of music.

Amos and Rebecca-Diane are best friends and have been teaching at the camp for the past 10 years. Every year, Amos and Rebecca-Diane write, compose and direct a new stage musical for the camp. Their past musicals include “Blackmail and Botox,” “The Briefcase, the Door and the Salad” and “A Hanukkah Divorce.” This year, they have to write and produce an original stage musical for the camp in only three weeks. It’s called Joan, Still.” And it’s all being filmed for a documentary.

The opening scene of “Theater Camp” takes place at Greenwood Middle School in the late spring. Adirond Acts camp founder Joan Rabinsky (played by Amy Sedaris) is attending a performance of the school’s production of the musical “Bye Bye Birdie.” Joan is the subject of this documentary that is the basis for the “Theater Camp” mockumentary. Joan has told only a few people that Adirond Acts is close to shutting down.

At the school’s performance area, Adirond Acts camp manager Rita Cohen (played by Caroline Aaron): “We have to give Taylor the lead in ‘Les Miz.'” Joan asks, “Why Taylor? He’s awful.” Rita replies, “I know, but his parents are so rich.” Joan says, “Come on. You know we don’t do things that way. It’s always got to be about the talent. How rich?” Rita responds, “So rich!”

Things don’t go well for Joan during this “Bye Bye Birdie” performance. The lighting during the performance gives Joan a seizure. After just one day of filming the documentary, Joan has to walk with a cane and is recovering from her seizure. The decision is made to keep filming, but Joan has put her obnoxious stoner son Troy Rubinsky (played by Jimmy Tatro) temporarily in charge of Adirond Acts.

Troy is a business vlogger who calls himself a “financial guru and a worldwide business mentor.” The only things he seems to be good at are showing how unintelligent he is and getting in the way of people trying to do their work at the camp. As irritating as Troy is, there’s no denying that he has some of the funniest lines in “Theater Camp.” Tatro is a scene stealer in this role.

In order to cut costs, Troy laid off a number of out-of-the-area teachers at the camp. Troy wants to hire locally, so he places an ad to find local teachers. Only one person answers the ad and she has no experience in teaching. Her name is Janet Walch (played by Ayo Edebiri), who is willing to learn on the job. Janet is predictably incompetent in many ways in this job that is new to her.

The other adult employees at the camp are experienced, but they are stressed-out when they hear that the camp’s original musical hasn’t been written yet and it’s supposed to do its first performance in three weeks. Stage manager/technical director Glenn Winthrop (played by Galvin) is nerdy and earnest. Costume designer Gigi Carbonier (played by Owen Thiele) is stereotypically flamboyant. Head of dance Clive Dewitt (played by Nathan Lee Graham) is drolly sarcastic.

Watching all of these proceedings closely is schemer Caroline Krauss (played by Harrison) from Camp Lakeside, where most of the kids come from rich families. Caroline is a junior project manager at Barnesnell Capital, an investment group. Caroline knows that the bank has filed a notice of default for Adirond Acts. Caroline tells Troy, that Barnesnell Capital “would love to get in bed with Adirond Acts.” Glenn warns Troy not to do business with Barnesnell Capital.

“Theater Camp” is more like a series of sketches threaded together instead of a deeply layered story. There’s a frenetic tone to the movie that’s supposed to match the tension of doing a hastily made stage musical. The kids in the musical are not given as much importance in “Theater Camp” as the adults who are scrambling to finish the musical on time while pretending to the kids that they have everything under control.

Most of “Theater Camp” will offer mild chuckles instead of non-stop, laugh-out-loud moments. Its not a movie with much subtlety, because it goes down a predictable path of “Look at all these neurotic people” and “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show!” The “Theater Camp” cast members have very good comedic timing though, with Platt and Gordon giving believable performances as longtime friends who are musical theater fanatics.

As directors, Gordon and Lieberman bring a brisk pace to the movie, although some moments tend to get repetitive. The movie’s running joke is that “Joan, Still” has some sections that are not appropriate for children. Toward the end of “Theater Camp,” there’s a hilarious surprise, which is one of the more original ideas in the film. As a mockumentary, “Theater Camp” mostly succeeds as a parody of real summer camps and youthful music theater, but people who dislike musical theater will probably find this movie very hard to enjoy.

Searchlight Pictures released “Theater Camp” in select U.S. cinemas on July 21, 2023.

Review: ‘Clerks III,’ starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Trevor Fehrman, Austin Zajur, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson and Kevin Smith

September 16, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Clerks III”

Directed by Kevin Smith

Culture Representation: Taking place in Leonardo, New Jersey, the comedy film “Clerks III” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Asians and Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: The misfits and eccentrics of the “Clerks” movies have returned—and this time, they’re making a biographical movie about the guy who’s the biggest screwup in the group.

Culture Audience: “Clerks III” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the previous “Clerks” movies and filmmaker Kevin Smith, because those are the viewers who are most likely to understand a lot of the jokes in “Clerks III.”

Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith in “Clerks III” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

“Clerks III” is best enjoyed by people who’ve seen or know about the first two “Clerks” movies. “Clerks III” relies heavily on jokes from previous “Clerks” movies. Therefore, some of the comedy is too repetitive. However, the movie’s zany attitude should please fans of a comedy film that can easily laugh at itself.

Kevin Smith wrote and directed 1994’s “Clerks” (still the best in the series), 2006’s “Clerks II” and 2022’s “Clerks III.” He plays on-again/off-again drug dealer Silent Bob in all three movies, which feature Silent Bob and his buffoonish partner in crime Jay (played by Jason Mewes, who is a longtime, close friend of Smith in real life). All three movies (which take place in Leonardo, New Jersey) revolve around eccentric and goofy clerks who work at small, quick-service stores in an outdoor shopping strip mall.

The two main clerks who are at the center of each movie are best friends Dante Hicks (played by Brian O’Halloran) and Randal Graves (played by Jeff Anderson), who are a stereotypical comedy “odd couple.” Dante is the more serious and “responsible” one of this duo. Randal is the one who’s more impulsive and more likely to make a mess of things. The biggest thing that Dante and Randal have in common is their passion for pop culture, especially anything that would attract a typical Comic-Con attendee.

In the first “Clerks” movie, Dante worked at the convenience store Quick Stop Groceries, which was next door to RST Video, where Randal worked. In “Clerks II,” Dante was the owner of Quick Stop, but Randal accidentally burned down the store after leaving a percolating pot of coffee unattended. The fire also destroyed RST Video, so Dante and Randal took jobs at a fast food restaurant called Mooby’s, where they worked with a teenager named Elias Grover (played by Trevor Fehrman) and Mooby’s manager Rebecca “Becky” Scott (played by Rosario Dawson).

In “Clerks III,” Dante and Randal are still bachelors working at low-paying jobs. Dante is once again the owner and operator of Quick Stop, which is right next door to RST Video, which now has a makeshift sign advertising that it now sells THC products. (In 2021, selling and using marijuana recreationally became legal in New Jersey.) Elias (with Fehrman reprising his role), who is a frequent customer of Quick Stop, has grown up to be a religious fanatic who can’t decide if he wants to be a devout Christian or a devout Satanist.

Becky died in 2006, at the age of 33. Dante, who was romantically involved with Becky in “Clerks II,” is still grieving over her death. Dante sees visions of Becky (with Dawson reprising her role) intermittently throughout “Clerks III,” where Becky imparts words of wisdom to Dante when he’s feeling down. Dante, who is now in his 50s, is battling with having a mid-life crisis, because he feels like he should have accomplished more with his life by now.

In addition to all of these returning characters, “Clerks III” introduces the new character Blockchain Coltrane (played by Austin Zajur), who is Elias’ mostly mute sidekick. Randal quips about Blockchain Coltrane: “It looks like Elias has got his own Silent Bob.” Elias is fixated on the idea of selling kites with the image of Jesus Christ on the kites. Elias thinks that that these kites will be a hit with the public. Dante is very skeptical and reluctant to sell any of these kites in the store.

There are some nods to the first “Clerks” movie in “Clerks III,” such as the opening scene where Dante arrives at Quick Stop to start work for the day, and he scrapes gum off of the front-door lock. (This “gum on a lock” plot device is a significant catalyst for the story in “Clerks.”) In “Clerks III,” there’s also an early scene where Dante, Randal and about six other men play hockey on the roof of Quick Stop, instead of working during the store’s opening hours, as confused and impatient customers line up to get into the store. It’s a reference to a similar scene in the first “Clerks” movie where Randal and Dante goofed off on the store roof instead of working.

The slacker characters of the first “Clerks” movie might be much older now, but it doesn’t mean that they’re much wiser. A lot of the comedy is about all the doltish things that the guys say and do. Any women in the movie mainly serve as foils for some of these shenanigans.

And you know what that means: Becky isn’t the only ex-girlfriend of Dante’s who shows up in “Clerks III.” Dante’s former fiancée Emma Bunting (played by Jennifer Schwalbach Smith), who was in “Clerks II,” makes an appearance. Veronica “Ronnie” Loughran (played by Marilyn Ghigliotti) from the first “Clerks” movie also has a small supporting role in “Clerks III.” Past grudges affect what happens between these characters. Viewers should really know the backstories of these characters in order to understand lot of the jokes.

The main story in “Clerks III” is that Randal has a heart attack, which leads him to rethink his life and what kind of legacy he wants to leave. He comes up with the idea of doing a movie about his life, which he will write and direct and star in, as himself. Randal thinks he’s qualfiied to direct his first movie because he’s watched a lot of movies. Silent Bob, who is hired to be the cinematographer of Randal’s movie, breaks his silence in a hilarious meta monologue referencing the first “Clerks” movie and why it was filmed in black and white.

Of course, Randal being Randal, all sorts of mishaps and mayhem occur during this movie shoot, which Randal wants to film mainly at Quick Stop. Dante starts to feel alienated by Randal acting like an egotistical director. Dante also feels like he’s being sidelined in the movie’s script. And all of the other characters get involved with their own agendas.

“Clerks III” has very much a vibe of, “The gang’s all back together, and let’s put a lot of famous people in this movie too.” There are numerous celebrity cameos in “Clerks III,” including Ben Affleck, Amy Sedaris, Justin Long, Danny Trejo, Fred Armisen, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Michelle Buteau and Anthony Michael Hall. No one does a terrible acting performance in the movie, but no one is particularly outstanding either.

One of the charms of the first “Clerks” movie is that it was obviously made by people who had no idea that the film would become a cult classic and launch the career of Smith. “Clerks III” has a little too much self-awareness for its own good. There’s a lot of fan servicing in “Clerks III” that won’t sit very well with people who have no knowledge of the first two “Clerks” movies. However, if people have enough knowledge of pop culture, they should gets some laughs out of “Clerks III,” which sometimes overloads on mentioning trendy things from the early 2020s that that will inevitably become very outdated.

What saves “Clerks III” from being an annoying rehash of the first two “Clerks” movies is the way the movie ends. Some people might be expecting this ending, because it’s an ending that Smith has talked about before in interviews. Other viewers might be caught off guard by the movie’s final scenes. This ending gives “Clerks III” an emotional substance that viewers will remember much more than the movie’s many trash-talking, throwaway jokes.

Lionsgate and Fathom Events are releasing “Clerks III” in select U.S. cinemas for a limited engagement from September 13 to September 18, 2022.

Review: ‘The Boss Baby: Family Business,’ starring the voices of Alec Baldwin, James Marsden, Jeff Goldblum, Amy Sedaris, Ariana Greenblatt, Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow

July 1, 2021

by Carla Hay

Tina Templeton (voiced by Amy Sedaris), The Boss Baby/Ted Templeton (voiced by Alec Baldwin) and young Tim Templeton (voiced by James Marsden) in “The Boss Baby: Family Business” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation)

“The Boss Baby: Family Business”

Directed by Tom McGrath

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city, the animated film “The Boss Baby: Family Business” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latinos and Asians) representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A laid-back man and his workaholic brother are physically transformed back to being children, and they team up with one of the brother’s two daughters to thwart an inventor’s plot to make parents into mind-controlled zombies and to have super-smart babies take over the world.

Culture Audience: “The Boss Baby: Family Business” will appeal primarily to “Boss Baby” fans and people who don’t mind watching a mediocre and overly busy animated family film.

The Boss Baby/Ted Templeton (voiced by Alec Baldwin) and Dr. Erwin Armstrong (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) in “The Boss Baby: Family Business” (Image courtesy of DreamWorks Animation)

“The Boss Baby: Family Business” is the equivalent of people promising to tell a good story, but they end up wasting your time with a lot of hyper rambling. This overly cluttered animated movie buries any attempt at clear and concise storytelling. It’s a sequel that tries to have multiple storylines going at the same time and does none of those storylines very well. And it’s also does a terrible job at world building and explaining what happened in the first “Boss Baby” movie, in order for viewers to fully understand “The Bossy Baby: Family Business.”

“The Boss Baby: Family Business” is the sequel to 2017’s Oscar-nominated “The Boss Baby,” which were both directed by Tom McGrath and written by Michael McCullers. “The Boss Baby” (based on Marla Frazee’s 2010 book of the same name) was about sibling rivalry between two brothers: 7-year-old Timothy “Tim” Templeton (voiced by Miles Bakshi) and infant Theodore “Ted” Templeton (voiced by Alec Baldwin), who had the voice and intelligence of an ambitious business-minded adult because Ted came from a place called BabyCorp that manufactures adults in baby bodies. Ted behaves like a corporate executive, so he’s the Boss Baby in the movie’s title, but Tim is the only other person in the family who knows that Ted has this unusually mature mind.

Without rehashing the plot of “Boss Baby” too much, it’s enough to say that things worked out where Ted ended up having a “normal” childhood with Tim. “The Boss Baby” ends about 30 years later, with Tim now a married father. His 7-year-old daughter Tabitha has concerns over her baby sister Tina, who is revealed to be a Boss Baby too. In order to best understand “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” it’s necessary to know what happened in “The Boss Baby.”

And because it’s the type of sequel where much of the comedy depends on people seeing the previous movie, it can be even more confusing than it needs to be to newcomers to “The Boss Baby” series. “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” which picks up right where “The Boss Baby” ended, rushes through an explanation of what happened in “The Boss Baby.” Unfortunately, “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” has three different storylines, which make the plot a convoluted mess.

In the first storyline, Tim (voiced by James Marsden) and Ted (voiced by Baldwin), who are now adults, still have a sibling rivalry with each other. Ted is a hedge fund CEO who is a bachelor with no children. Tim is a stay-at-home father to daughters Tabitha (voiced by Ariana Greenblatt) and Tina (voiced by Amy Sedaris), and he knows that Tina is a Boss Baby, just like her Uncle Ted was. Tim’s wife Carol (voiced by Eva Longoria) is the family’s breadwinner (she works in a high-powered corporate job), while Tim is feeling a little down on himself because Tabitha seems to admire and respect Ted more than she admires and respects Tim.

And so, the second storyline is how Tim can find a way to have the type of close father-daughter relationship that he wants for himself and Tabitha. As an example of how emotionally distant Tabitha has become from Tim. Tabitha refuses to hug Tim, because she says she’s gotten too old for father-daughter hugs. She wants to shake Tim’s hand instead.

The third storyline is about how Tim, Ted and Tina try to stop a devious plot to make adults mind-controlled zombies and to have Boss Babies take over the world. Tim, Ted and Tina visit BabyCorp and find out that it has a Crisis Center that monitors threats to babies around the world. Dr. Erwin Armstrong (voiced by Jeff Goldblum), founder of a learning institution called Acorn Center, has the goal to make babies the ultimate learning machines, and he thinks parents are a threat to these plans.

Acorn Center has been opening up several locations. Dr. Armstrong personally teaches at the main Acorn Center location, where Tim’s older daughter Tabitha has been going to school. Tim immediately figures out that Dr. Armstrong’s Acorn Center is why Tabitha has been acting so emotionally distant from him: She’s being programmed to become one of these super-intelligent people who will take over the world. Part of that programming includes brainwashing to believe that parents are a threat to a child’s independence.

At the same time, BabyCorp has a baby formula that can turn an adult back into a baby. Tim and Ted take this age-reversing formula. The movie has a nonsensical sequence of Tom and Ted being transformed back into being children. (Miles Bakshi does some voice work as the young Tim.) This sequence ends with Ted being turned into a baby, but Tim’s reverse ageing turns him back into a 7-year-old, not a baby. The movie gives no explanation for this discrepancy, which is one of many examples of what’s wrong with the movie’s substandard screenplay.

Tim now looks like his 7-year-old self, so he and baby Ted go undercover in the Acorn Center where Tabitha is a student. This is the type of sloppily written movie where Ted and Tim just walk into the school, with no explanation for how they were able to quickly enroll in the school. And Tim’s “disguise” is just a pair of glasses and an alias: Marcos Lightspeed. Ted and Tim explain their absence to their family by saying that they are going on a business trip together.

Later, Tim tries to disguise himself more with tattoos and a wardrobe that tries to make him look like he’s “tough.” He’s treated like an outsider by most of the students, except for Tabitha, who befriends Tim. For this part of the plot to be believable, you’d have to believe that Tabitha doesn’t know what her father looked like when he was her age, because she doesn’t even comment on the resemblance. In other words, Tabitha might be “book smart” (she gets the highest grades in her class), but she doesn’t seem to have much common sense.

Tabitha brings “Marcos” home for dinner to meet her family, which includes Tim’s parents Ted Templeton Sr. (voiced by Jimmy Kimmel) and Janice Templeton (voiced by Lisa Kudrow). Ted Sr. and Janice notice how much “Marcos” looks and sounds like Tim when he was that age. However, they brush it off as a coincidence because Marcos wears glasses. It’s very much like how people in “Superman” don’t figure out Clark Kent is really Superman just because Clark wears glasses and isn’t in a superhero suit.

Except for Dr. Armstrong (a stereotypical “crazy inventor” villain), the movie’s supporting characters are given next to nothing to do but just take up space. An Acorn Center student named Nathan (voiced by Raphael Alejandro) is the obligatory school bully whose character, just like all the other students, is ultimately just there for show, with very little impact on the overall story. A student who’s given the name Creepy Girl (voiced by Molly K. Gray), who looks like a reject from a Tim Burton animated film, pops up here and there at random moments to act weird around Tim and Ted.

The rest of “The Boss Baby: Family Business” just further tangles these three messy storylines with a lot of filler. It all leads up to a pivotal Acorn Center talent pageant that’s supposed to coincide with what Dr. Armstrong calls B-Day, the revolution that he wants to start where Boss Babies will take over the world, and there are no more children’s rules and no parents in charge. At a couple of points in the movie, it turns into a sappy musical, with Tabitha breaking out into song. The movie’s animation is not outstanding and certainly won’t be nominated for any major awards.

The voice cast members do a perfectly adequate job in their roles. However, Longoria’s Carol, who could have been an interesting character, is the most sidelined role in the family. She’s doesn’t do much and has forgettable lines of dialogue. The wacky toy wizard Wizzie (voiced by James McGrath) brings very few laughs. And the conversations throughout the movie are littered with clichés. At one point in the film, workaholic Ted Jr. says of his seemingly successful life: “It’s lonely at the top.”

“The Boss Baby: Family Business” might be enjoyable for people who just want to watch an animated film as a distraction and don’t care if there’s anything memorable about the movie. But whatever sarcastic wit that Boss Babies are supposed to have in this world is largely missing in “The Boss Baby: Family Business.” It’s a movie that tries too hard to be so many things at once that it ends up being nothing special at all.

DreamWorks Animation will release “Boss Baby: Family Business” in U.S. cinemas and on Peacock on July 2, 2021.

Review: ‘Save Yourselves!,’ starring Sunita Mani and John Reynolds

October 2, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Save Yourselves!”

Directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in New York City and Crawford, New York’s Pine Bush area, the sci-fi horror comedy “Save Yourselves!” features a predominantly white cast (with a few people of Indian heritage and one African American) representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: During a getaway trip in a remote area, a hipster couple in their 30s find out that the world is being invaded by strange, fuzzy alien creatures.

Culture Audience: “Save Yourselves!” will appeal primarily who like quirky comedies that poke fun at “hipster culture” and people’s addictions to technology.

What’s scarier: Going a week without plugging into any technology or having strange, fuzzy creatures suddenly invade the world? The live-in couple at the center of the sci-f-/horror comedy “Save Yourselves!” find out when they go on a getaway trip to a remote cabin to “unplug” from technology, only to discover that the world is being invaded by creatures from outer space. The offbeat humor works for most of the movie, even though the story might end too abruptly for many people’s tastes.

Written and directed by real-life couple Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, “Save Yourselves!” shines best when it realistically portrays the everyday ebbs and flows of a relatively happy couple’s relationship, even when they’re in the midst of some absurd chaos. Su (played by Sunita Mani) and Jack (played by John Reynolds) live together in New York City’s Brooklyn borough, and they’ve reached a crossroads in their relationship.

Su, who is 30, is thinking about starting a family with Jack. Jack, who is 34, tells Su that he’s not ready to become a parent yet because he often still feels like a kid himself. They both work in technology-related jobs and look and act like “hipsters”—young people who want to be socially conscious and trendy at the same time. They are also very connected to technology, since they’re constantly on their phones and they use tech devices like Alexa and Siri.

It’s not made clear in the movie how long Su and Jack have been dating each other, but Su wants to take their relationship to the next level by becoming parents. During an argument over this issue, Su yells at Jack, “My mom had three kids by the time she was my age! You’re 34. What are you doing?” It’s the kind of cutting remark that she seems to regret almost immediately as she says it.

Su is the person in the relationship who wants more order, stability and a planned-out way of doing things. Jack is more of a “go with the flow” type of person who is doesn’t get as upset as Su does if things don’t go according to plan. In the movie’s opening scene, Su and Jack have a minor squabble because Jack and used her laptop and erased all the tabs that she had set on the laptop.

After some back-and-forth bickering, he admits that he deleted the tabs, but not intentionally. He tells Su, “In this world, there are so many things that are more important.” He then apologizes: “I’m sorry for all the things you want me apologize for.”

But that isn’t good enough for Su, who demands that Jack verbally list all of the things he need to apologize for until Su is satisfied with what he says. It’s pretty clear from this scene that Su has the more dominant personality in the relationship. She’s not mean-spirited. She would just rather have things done her way.

Later that evening, Su and Jack attend a bachelor party for their gay friend Blake (played by John Early), who is seen briefly in the movie. At the party, Jack talks with the bartender named Raph, pronounced “raff” (played by Ben Sinclair), who tells Jack that he used to be an investment banker, but he gave it all up to travel around the world and work in a less-stressful job.

Raph also gives John a rock crystal that Raph says he got from Patagonia. According to Raph, the rock will help ease anger and stress. Raph also mentions that he has a cabin in upstate New York (in the city of Crawford’s Pine Bush area) that he uses as a getaway. Raph invites Jack to use the cabin whenever he feels like it.

This conversation with Raph idea sparks an idea in Jack to go on a getaway trip with Su and completely unplug from technology for a week. He thinks it would be an ideal way to connect with each other on a deeper emotional level as a couple, since they won’t be distracted by technology and their jobs. Su is willing to try the idea when Jack mentions that Raph’s cabin in the woods would be the perfect place to stay during their trip.

Shortly after Su and Jack call their respective workplaces to let them know that they will be gone for a week, Su’s job sends her a message to let her know that she’s been fired. Apparently, taking that amount of time off from work on short notice was not acceptable to the company. After Su gets over her initial shock, she comments to Jack about getting fired: “This is a good thing.”

Later, after it sinks in how her job loss will affect her financial security, Su starts to worry, but she still decides to go ahead with the getaway trip. Su is in constant contact with her demanding mother, who calls Su frequently and is never seen in the movie. (Zenobia Shroff is the voice of Su’s mother over the phone.) Su dreads telling her mother that she lost her job, so she decides she won’t tell her mother until after Su gets back from the trip.

Before they take their road trip to the cabin, Su and Jack both change their outgoing voice mail greetings to tell callers that Su and Jack will be gone for a week (from June 2 to June 9) and they will be completely disconnected from technology and won’t be checking or returning messages for the entire week. Jack and Su bring their phones with them, in case of an emergency, but they make a promise to each other not to look at their phones during the trip.

When they arrive at the large modern cabin, Su and Jack see a brown shaggy fuzz ball that’s the size of a bowling ball on the kitchen floor. They don’t touch the fuzz ball, but they assume it’s some kind of kitschy decoration, and they call the sphere object a “poof.” (Not the British slang term for a gay man but the term that people use for a poof ball.)

Because the main reason for the trip is to work on their relationship, Su and Jack do some self-help, couples-therapy emotional exercises, where they ask each other questions that are supposed to elicit deep or intimate answers. Jack is initially annoyed when Su admits that she got some of these self-help instructions from the Internet before they left for the trip, because he thinks that defeats the purpose of it being a trip that’s truly free of technology. But Su placates him by saying that she wrote down the self-help instructions by hand instead of printing them out.

Su has a big secret during this trip: She can’t resist checking messages on her phone. She finds out that her mother has called multiple times to talk about creatures that have been sighted all over New York City. Her mother says that some people initially thought the creatures were rats but the creatures are actually something else. Su doesn’t think anything of the messages and doesn’t say anything to Jack about what she heard from her mother.

Soon after their arrival, Su and Jack notice something strange: A bottle of vodka and a jar of alcohol in the kitchen that were full the night before are now empty, with a sticky substance on the outside of the containers. Su and Jack both know that they didn’t empty the containers. Who or what did empty those containers?

Su and Jack soon find out that the “poof” that they thought was harmless is one of several creatures from outer space that have invaded the world. The creatures consume ethanol, which explains the missing liquor. And these creatures attack by secreting a long, red umbilical cord-like appendage that can attach itself to objects and strangle or subdue people.

Jack and Su (who eventually tells Jack that she’s secretly checked messages on her phone) then try to find out what’s going on and attempt to escape from their environment when they find more “poofs” on the property. There are several mishaps (hint: gasoline contains ethanol) and some other desperate fleeing people whom Jack and Su encounter along the way.

“Save Yourselves!” takes some unexpected and wonderfully weird twists. It’s not a typical sci-fi movie because many of the scenarios are so original and because the movie blends so many other genres in the story, such as comedy, horror and even a little bit of drama. Viewers who dislike all things “hipster” should know that Su and Jack are not as annoying as you think they would be. Except for things such as they live in Brooklyn and they think a crystal rock is a cool gift, Su and Jack are very much like a lot of yuppie couples in romantic comedies.

Because the majority of the screen time shows Su and Jack alone together, Mani and Reynolds carry this movie with a lot of authentic charm. Their chemistry as a couple is very believable. Even in Jack and Su’s quiet moments together before the alien invasion (such as reading their phones on a sofa together or spending time in the kitchen together) look very naturalistic and ring very true. In this movie’s very small-numbered cast, Mani stands out with her wonderfully expressive face that conveys all the emotions that Su is feeling, while Reynolds shows a lot of talent in the scenes that involved slapstick comedy.

The madcap parts of the movie, when Su and Jack are trying to escape from the deadly aliens, are obviously meant to be funny. But “Save Yourselves!” also incorporates elements of tragicomedy very effectively. There’s a scene where Jack and Su check their messages and react with a mixture of dread and guilt when they find out that New York City has been evacuated and they were unaware how much their loved ones were in danger while Jack and Su had been relaxing at the cabin. (The voice of Jack’s mother is played by Amy Sedaris.)

“Save Yourselves!” starts out as a couple trying to survive their relationship and end up just trying to survive. A lot of strange and unexpected things happen along the way, but the story never gets so bizarre that most people can’t relate to it. Thanks to memorable performances by Mani and Reynolds, this movie is a ride worth taking as long as viewers don’t expect a conventional ending.

Bleecker Street released “Save Yourselves!” in select U.S. cinemas on October 2, 2020. The movie’s digital and VOD release date is October 6, 2020.