Streaming exclusives are making it a lot harder to keep us with certain films. Here are some very belated reviews of some recent feel-good movies that I'm lumping together because they both feel like they're destined to be somebody's favorites. They're both serving audiences that tend to be overlooked, and both very good versions of what they're trying to be.
"Jerry & Marge Go Large," for instance, is a very sweet dramedy starring a pair of actors in their sixties, and feels a lot like one of those working class UK village comedies that were popular in the '90s. Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening play the Selbees, Jerry and Marge, who live in the fading town of Evart, Michigan. Recently retired and bored, Jerry stumbles across a lottery game in Massachusetts that has a flaw - if you buy enough tickets at a certain time, the odds shift in the buyer's favor. This snowballs into the whole town getting behind Jerry's new venture to beat the lottery, and the Selbees discovering a new lease on life.
"Jerry & Marge" has an old fashioned worldview. It tells the story of wholesome, small town, Middle American ingenuity and perseverance winning out over the faceless system. This is tremendously appealing wish fulfillment, and thanks to a solid script and a good cast, it never tips into being smarmy or inane. It's genuinely fun to spend time with Jerry and Marge as they make their monthly trips to Massachusetts to buy ever increasing numbers of lotto tickets. The supporting cast, including Larry Wilmore and Rainn Wilson, lend some gentle humor. I appreciate that Jerry is given some depth and time for self-reflection, and while most of the story is a heavily fictionalized account of the real Selbees' lotto streak, it never pushes too far or becomes too flashy. A villain is concocted - a math whiz from Harvard running a rival lotto group - but the stakes are kept small and reasonable.
These midbudget films used to be much more common, and it's honestly refreshing to see one that's so content to be exactly what it is. It wants to give its older audience members some uplift, and to spin a fun modern day fable about some colorful people. There are no chase scenes, no fights, and barely even any raised voices. So, for certain audiences, this is going to be a snooze, and for others a delight. I'm getting older myself, and was happy to see Cranston and Bening playing a pair of very nice people growing closer in their twilight years, and being complete nerds over math. Not all movies need to be about psychopaths and neurotics, and frankly this was a great palate cleanser for some of the more R-rated media I've been watching lately.
Now "Fire Island" seems at the outset to be very niche. Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang play Noah and Howie, part of a group of gay New York friends who vacation every year on Fire Island, known for its LGBT enclaves. Noah is the more social one, and intent on helping the far less experienced Howie find somebody to hook up with. This puts them in the path of a much more wealthy group of guys, including Charlie (James Scully), who Howie hits it off with. However, there's also Will (Conrad Ricamora), a stern-faced lawyer who seems intent on keeping the two apart. Noah is attracted to him, but can't stand his attitude. And right about now some of you are realizing that "Fire Island" is "Pride and Prejudice" as a modern day, gay, Asian-American rom-com. And it's a lot of fun.
I have no idea whether "Fire Island" is in any way a true or honest reflection of what the gay Asian-American experience is like, but it comes off as a pretty sincere attempt a better representation. Directed by Andre Ahn of "Spa Night," and written by Joel Kim Booster, the movie does a good job of translating Austen's concerns over class and wealth to a modern context. Noah and Howie have no interest in matrimony - Noah is near repulsed by the notion - but they are very self-aware and sensitive when it comes to social standing and privilege. We watch them roll their eyes at insensitive comments about Asians from clueless white guys, and goggle at Will and Charlie's expensive real estate on the island. There are a few instances where Noah provides explanations for certain Fire Island events and activities through narration, but not so many that it feels like the movie is aimed at the straights.
It's also nice to see a LGBT film that has a lot of overt sexuality, though only modest glimpses of any actual coupling. Casual sex is not demonized in this movie, but presented as a perfectly good option for some of the characters. This is balanced out by a lot of the film being about friendships and found family. The lone major female character is Erin (Margaret Cho), who acts as a sort of lesbian den mother to Noah's group. However there's a wide variety of gay characters of all different colors and races, who express their queerness in different ways. And the film ultimately hinges on Noah learning to acknowledge that he and Howie, despite having so many of the same cultural signifiers, ultimately have very different experiences being who they are. And there's no realization more universal than that.
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