BRIGSBY BEAR
Review By Adam Mast
If ROOM and THE TRUMAN SHOW had been re-envisioned by the gloriously goofy Lonely Island crew (POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING) it might look a little something like the surprisingly endearing and all together likable BRIGSBY BEAR. Co-written and starring SNL player Kyle Mooney this sweet and laugh-out-loud funny movie will also be instantly relatable to film lovers and to those who use art of any kind to deal with the pressures of real life.
James (Mooney) has lived a most unique life. Since early childhood, he’s been confined to very contained, off-the-grid living quarters by his eccentric parents. With very little human interaction, James spends the majority of his time watching and dissecting a children’s show called BRIGSBY BEAR. That is until a startling revelation opens James’ childlike eyes to a world he never knew existed.
What an unexpected joy BRIGSBY BEAR is and one of the many things I so greatly enjoyed about it was its refusal to include a typical villain. Sure, there’s a bit of contention in the film, but there’s no obvious dastardly antagonist out to stop James from reaching his end goal which, in the case of this film, is to put together a feature length big screen adaptation of BRIGSBY BEAR with the help of some new friends.
Kyle Mooney is dryly appealing here. His man-child demeanor is both charming and adorable. It’s a ton of fun watching him try to grasp teen lingo and then attempt to re-recite said lingo with his own odd spin. James is sort of like a frat boy version of the Jeff Bridges character from STARMAN.
While this is essentially Mooney’s show, the SNL funnyman gets a great assist from an equally appealing supporting cast, most notably an undeniably likable Greg Kinnear as a man of the law with aspirations of becoming an actor, and… Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker himself) as James’ mysterious father figure.
As previously stated, a sizable portion of BRIGSBY BEAR finds a committed James working hard with his new found friends to turn his favorite (and only) t.v. show into a feature length movie. If you’ve ever dabbled in filmmaking or art of any kind, you’ll find this stuff very relatable. In fact, the whole filmmaking scenario as presented in BRIGSBY BEAR is smile inducing in a big way.
For all its goofy, Lonely Island-infused humor and slapstick hijinks, it should be noted that BRIGSBY BEAR has a ton of heart. This is a movie about family, friendship, and moving forward from life altering situations. It’s also quite the clever look at the art of filmmaking itself.
We still have plenty of films to see at Sundance 2017 but it’s fairly safe to say that BRIGSBY BEAR will end up being a festival favorite.
BONUS VIDEO
You’ll notice the whole gang from the GOOD NEIGHBOR STUFF Channel on Youtube are actually in the film.
"Good Neighbor is a Los Angeles based sketch comedy group comprised of Beck Bennett, Kyle Mooney, Nick Rutherford, and filmmaker Dave McCary"
More reviews and thoughts to come regarding the 2017 Sundance Film Festival!
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