Don’t Think Twice
Directed by: Mike Birbiglia.
Written by: Mike Birbiglia.
Starring: Keegan-Michael Key
(Jack), Mike Birbiglia (Miles), Gillian Jacobs (Samantha), Kate Micucci
(Allison), Tami Sagher (Lindsay), Chris Gethard (Bill).
Mike
Birbiglia’s film Don’t Think Twice knows the world of Improv inside and out in
a way that only someone who was inside that world for years could know.
Birbiglia is best known now as a stand-up – especially for his work that has
made to This American Life (whose host/producer, Ira Glass, helped to produce
this film) – but he’s also known Improv for a long time as well – as has almost
the entire cast of the film (the exception being Gillian Jacobs). That helps
make the film work as well as it does – and seem as closely observed as it is.
For a comedy, Don’t Think Twice isn’t all that funny – bit even in the Improv
scenes themselves, although they are clever. But Birbiglia seems to be going
for a more melancholy tone to his film, and knows too much outward laughs may
break the mood.
The
film centers on one, Brooklyn-based improv group known as The Commune. We see
some of their shows, and you can tell that they are good – they have an easy
chemistry together, play off each other well, and never violate the first rule
which is to always being saying “Yes, and…” to everything each other throw out
there. Two things threaten to pull the group apart. The first is that in the
theater where they perform is going to close down – it’s valuable New York real
estate – too valuable to be a dimly lit theater for improv performers. They
find another venue – but they’re going to have to pay to perform there,
although there are promises of splitting money after everything has been earned
back – something we in the audience are far more skeptical of than anyone in
the troop (probably because they want it to be true). The second thing is that
two of their group are invited to audition for a SNL clone, Weekend Live – and
one of them actually gets it. It’s awkward afterwards, since that character has
become a star, but still occasionally comes back to perform with the group – in
part because his girlfriend was another member of the cast.
Each
of the six members of The Commune have their own kind of arc throughout the
film – and though they play out the way you kind expect them to, it doesn’t
feel clichéd that they do. Keegan-Michael Key plays Jack – the member who
eventually ends up on Weekend – and it was a smart decision to cast him, since
we immediately recognize the talent that got him there. It is a smart, subtle
performance from him though – he doesn’t become an ego-maniac or start to
ignore his friends though – not really. But the pressure of being on the show
is more than he thought it was going to be. It puts strain on his relationship
with Samantha (Gillian Jacobs) – his girlfriend. When they were on the same
level, they were fine – they just wanted to make each other laugh. But a
distance grows as two people who thought they were on the same page realize
they aren’t.
The
rest of the group have their own issues. Birbiglia himself plays Miles, the de
facto leader of the group, slightly older than the rest, an improv teacher, who
gets more and more bitter every time another of his former students passes him
professionally. He’s kind of like the hero of the Coens Inside Llewyn Davis –
he’s talented enough to keep thinking he’ll have a chance one day, but not
talented enough to ever quite get there – so he’s now in his late thirties,
living like he’s still 22 (and sleeping with his 22 year old students). Kate
Micucci is Allison – who is good at improv, but is also an artist – working on
her graphic novel for a decade now, without quite finishing it – insecure
enough to never be done, because then she would have to submit it, and perhaps
get rejected. Tamo Sagher is Lindsay – whose parents have money, so unlike the
rest of them, she can just sit around all day getting stoned, instead of
working a day job they don’t like. Chris Gethard is Bill, whose father has a
health scare that puts everything else in perspective.
Don’t
Think Twice is a comedy, sure, but it’s not particularly funny. You watch it
almost like the characters watch Weekend Live – they don’t much laugh, but
analyze why they think what is onscreen is funny or not. It’s a movie that
loves Improv, without romanticizing it – it knows full well that most people
who get into it, will never become successful at it- even as successful as the
characters in the movie, which barely qualifies as success. It’s a subdued,
quietly touching, quietly funny movie.
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