As a comedy, the movie presents a steady stream of humorous situations with very few laugh-out-loud jokes and gags. At one point, Sean shows up to Weatherman’s home dressed for a beach party, instead of a party at a beach house. Or having to answer questions while serving food like, “is it organic, does it have GMO’s, is it local?” Even for the most brilliant comedians, laughs are difficult to extract from merely presenting “wouldn’t it be funny if…” situations. Instead, laughs come from punchlines derived from those “funny” situations.
As a drama, Sean’s character arc needs to arc higher to be interesting. As the sad and depressed Sean, his sadness flies at a level four throughout most of the film and then arcs to a six by the end. At the same time, it was a little confusing just what Sean’s real problem was. Was his low self-confidence keeping him from success in the way of self-sabotage or did the world around him have it in for poor Sean in the form of bad luck. His job is one example. Was his struggles at work due to a job he wasn’t passionate about or did his struggles come from a horrible boss and impossible customers. Story-wise, lean into Sean’s self-sabotage and let him find his bottom or let the “gods” just pound the poor soul into submission, forcing him to fight back.
“…let him find his bottom or let the “gods” just pound the poor soul into submission…”
Character development is another facet of the film, that needed to be cranked to “eleven.” The performances by the entire cast are good all around, which is thankfully in large supply when you film in Hollywood. In her brief appearance in the film, Mindy Sterling as Sean’s mother is a not-so-surprisingly well-developed, hilarious character. She enters the film as this overbearing, nagging mother and justifies her behavior to become a caring parent just moments later—a great twist. The crazy, antagonists in the film are similarly creative, like his on-and-off-again girlfriend, boss, and brother-in-law. I wish there was more of that in the positive characters like his best friend, sister, and love interest.
My Best Friend’s Famous is a light story with silly moments, and despite being a little all over the place in its core message, the message stands out nonetheless and may resonate with those chasing the dream right now. My only suggestion for Psinakis and Ignatius’ next venture is pushing the story and characters to their dramatic and comedic limits, pay off those jokes, and show no mercy.
"…begins to feel more and more out of place with the B-Lister crowd."
