How can you go wrong with Elliot Gould and Jemaine Clement together? The answer is, you can’t. Making its world premiere at LA Film Festival, HUMOR ME comes from the fertile comedic mind of writer/director Sam Hoffman, who here makes his directorial debut. Inspired by Hoffman’s website “Old Jews Telling Jokes” which has already led to an off-Broadway play, a best-selling book or two, and a lecture series, it was only a matter of time before HUMOR ME made it to the big screen.
Nate is a playwright suffering from writer’s block and is unable to complete his latest play. Fired by producer/agent C.C., Nate also gets dumped by his wife Nirit who has apparently found herself a billionaire able to give her the life to which she wants to be accustomed. Problem for Nate is that it’s Nirit who has been supporting him. Kicking Nate to the curb and taking their son Gabe with her, Nate finds himself with no job, no wife and no home. He has just one option. Go to New Jersey and stay with his dad Bob in a retirement community.
Needless to say, with a father who only keeps diet cream soda in the house and who expects his son to earn his keep by doing chores, uncomfortable and comedic situations abound as Nate refuses to “grow up” while Bob refuses to coddle or cater to him. But as things do, they generally have a way of working themselves out as heart and humor make that bumpy road a little bit easier, a lot more fun, and filled with a lot of surprises.
No one but Elliott Gould could embody Bob with such ease and believability as he slips into the character with the comfortableness of a well-worn sweater. As to be expected, his comedic timing is perfection with vocal inflection and cadence elevating the humor as only Gould can do. Going toe-to-toe with Gould is Jemaine Clement who, as Nate, brings his own often droll and sometimes hapless comic sensibilities to play, sparkling with exasperation as every turn. Clement is a delight! The real magic happens though when Gould and Clement share the screen. You can see and feel the comic sparks igniting.
Showing great confidence in storytelling as a director, Hoffman calls on the best of the best with a supporting cast that includes Priscilla Lopez, Annie Potts, Bebe Neuwirth, Willie C. Carpenter and Ingrid Michaelson, while he taps cinematographer Seamus Tierney to maintain a light, bright visual palette complementing the humor at hand.
Writer/director: Sam Hoffman
Cast: Elliott Gould, Jemaine Clement, Priscilla Lopez, Annie Potts, Bebe Neuwirth, Willie C. Carpenter and Ingrid Michaelson
by debbie elias, 06/13/2017
(Los Angeles Film Festival review)
