http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9tRN7bok4o
John Campbell
As writer, director and star of this off-beat, friendly comedy, it must be assumed that Mike Birbiglia has exposed a history of his own foibles, fears and neuroses. Stylistically, this is an MO that has gone through the roof as our culture has become almost paranormally egocentric, so its success depends on how truthful it comes across on delivery.
I bought it, without necessarily feeling any great sympathy for the character. While driving, Matt Pandamiglio, a standup comic, tells us through flashbacks of his romance with Abby (Lauren Ambrose), his relationship with his lush Mom and overbearing Dad (Carol Kane and James Rebhorn, performers who nail such parts with reliable economy and clarity), and his at first floundering but of late successful attempts at making a career on the club circuit telling gags, most of which are at his own expense – fun is had with Pandamiglio, as it must surely have been with Birbiglia.
It’s said that all clowns, deep down, want to play Hamlet, so it’s not entirely unexpected that Matt’s story is riven with anxiety and doubt. Mike’s negative undercurrents manifest themselves in sleepwalking, a disorder that has become so chronic that it regularly presents a threat to his safety, even leading him to jump through a closed second-storey motel window.
A professional corner is turned when Mike is advised to put more of himself into his act, setting in train resolutions to the problems that have been bugging him. More consideration might have been shown to Abby – there is a terrific scene in which, returning home from a wedding reception, Ambrose colours the moment with heartbreaking intensity – but there is little room to spare in any first-person account of a bloke seeking what is right for him.
The dream sequences could have been better executed – they feel clunky and not in-sync with the flow of the narrative – but the message, that ‘I’m okay, you’re okay’, if not exactly earth shattering, is a comfy fit for its natural audience.
