Tell me a story

 
Written and Directed by Todd Berger.
 
 
 
Glen and Tracy (played by David Cross and Julia Stiles) have been on a few dates, and it’s finally time to do the awkward yet obligatory introduction to friends. Tracy’s married friends, Emma and Pete (played by Erinn Hayes and Blaise Miller) host a routine couples brunch, which is just the right occasion to bring Glen into the group. Having to meet three new couples could be enough to justify the title of the movie, but while Glen and Tracy are there they learn that several major cities in the United States have been attacked with dirty bombs. Cell phones no longer work, the land line is down, and the power has gone out. They can’t even leave the house because the radiation fallout is headed their way. You’d think that would put things in perspective. You’d think.

My Rating

I’ve mentioned before on this site how I love movies that take place over the course of one night. I’ve also mentioned how I like it when TV shows have bottle episodes where the entire story takes place in one setting. It’s a Disaster combines the two concepts to entertaining results. Limiting the story to one location forced it to be about the characters and their issues. A lot of the movie may be them reacting to the news, but it’s more about them exploring their relationships. Emma and Pete are going through something major. Hedy and Shane (played by America Ferrera and Jeff Grace) are fine on the surface but have underlying problems. Lexi and Buck (played by Rachel Boston and Kevin M. Brennan) are untraditional people with an untraditional marriage which might prove to be the strongest. I love that even Glen and Tracy get to play the what-could-have-been game in regards to their budding romance. It may seem odd to be reevaluating or simply evaluating your relationships when you hear life-shattering news, but then again, maybe it’s the most perfect time to do so.

It’s actually when relationship issues take priority over the attack that things get really funny. Glen may want to know everyone to look for a radio, but damn it Pete and Emma are trying to hash out their problems. Everyone may be hours from death, but it’s still important to know if it’s pronounced “duct tape” or “duck tape.” I loved the balance of humor and drama in this movie.

And talk about an ending. They nail it. I can’t think of a better way to have concluded the story, especially given an earlier conversation between Glen and Tracy, which is all I’ll say about the subject.

This movie is all about the characters. The situation is just a catalyst to get them into action. And even though the story opens with Glen and Tracy and treats Glen as an audience stand-in, this an ensemble piece. Everyone has a distinct personality, and everyone gets to be funny, with maybe the exception of Julia Stiles’ Tracy. I never really knew what her deal was. In a movie where you pretty much “get” everyone after only a few minutes, Tracy’s lack of personality stands out. And this is not to say that the characters are two-dimensional (though Buck and Lexi come closest); it just means they all have strong personalities.

I particularly enjoyed Glen and Pete’s performance. Pete had this great dry, know-it-all delivery, and Glen played the outsider just as you’d want him to. Like the audience, he doesn’t know any of these people. He barely knows Tracy, as evidenced by their first conversation in the movie. So when he enters the house and meets everyone, he’s observing their rhythms and how their relationships work, and when Pete talks to him about a vague “hypothetical” situation, Glen is just as confused about it as we are, and David plays that confusion so well.

Shane I found the least likeable. Out of all of them he’s the most likely to have had multiple past conversations about the zombie apocalypse. He’s that kind of guy, but not in a fun quirky kind of way. He was actually rather joyless. It was hard to even imagine what Hedy saw in him.

I’ve mentioned that the movie contains dramatic elements, but I don’t think those moments were too demanding on the actors. The comedic parts were probably harder to execute since the timing had to be just right. As a non-actor, I don’t know which is harder, but comedy just seems more difficult to me, which is why comedic actors tend to do drama better than dramatic actors do comedy. I’d be curious to know how much of this movie was improvised. The dialogue was really funny and zipped along.

The movie utilizes classical music super effectively, tying it into the beginning and end of the movie in a clever way. Pete and Emma’s house looks comfortable and lived in, which is always good, especially since we’re spending the entire movie there.

Another cool thing is that there are moments in the movie where several people are in a room having two separate conversations, and the audio overlaps so that you can’t really make out both conversations at the same time. You so rarely see that done in a movie, but it’s how scenes like that play out in real life. That alone gives you a sense of reality, but it also gives you an idea of history between these people. They don’t have to sit and patiently let each other talk. They know that not all of their conversations are important.

Do I want to see it again? I already did. I watched this movie again two days after I watched it the first time, mostly for the dialogue. Like an episode of Arrested Development, I felt like I probably missed some good jokes in the dialogue because of its pacing and that I’d appreciate what I did catch by watching it again (though I wouldn’t say the writing was up to the level of Arrested). If Todd Berger writes and/or directs another movie, I’d most likely see it based on this one.

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,”The Breakfast Club: This is the first movie I remember seeing that confines its characters to one location and takes place over the course of a few hours while exploring relationships. I like the description on the box: “”They were five total strangers, with nothing in common, meeting for the first time. A brain, a beauty, a jock, a rebel and a recluse. Before the day was over, they broke the rules. Bared their souls. And touched each other in a way they never dreamed possible.”” So true. (Buy it on Amazon.com: Streaming, DVD, Blu-ray)”

,”This is the End: It starts with a party, and soon they learn that the world as they know it is ending. This one is extremely funny. It’s a much wilder story, and it’s more absurd and not as relationshippy, but there is a relationship issue at the heart of the film. Read my review here. (Buy it on Amazon.com: Streaming, DVD, Blu-ray)”

,”Two Guys and a Girl: Okay, so I haven’t seen this one in a long time, but I remember enjoying it. One guy has been dating two girls, and when they find out about it they decide to confront him in his own apartment, where most of the movie is set. I don’t know if I’d like it today, but Robert Downey Jr. is in it, so I’m willing to bet I would. (Buy it on Amazon.com: Streaming, DVD, Blu-ray)”

,”Carnage: This one I haven’t seen at all, but I really want to. IMDB describes the plot as follows, “”Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.”” It stars Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, and John C. Reilly and was directed by Roman Polanski. That’s a lot of talent in one place. It also has a 7.1 rating on IMDB as opposed to It’s a Disaster‘s 6.4. Sounds good to me. (Buy it on Amazon.com: Streaming, DVD, Blu-ray)”

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