Jeff Garlin only plays one character. His roles are usually side-kick, husband, neighbor, agent...that sort of thing. But he only plays one character. A loud, not too bright but good-hearted slob. That's all he does. And in small doses in the roles I've noted above, his harmless near buffoon persona his presence can move a story along or provide some comedy relief. Three maybe four minutes in a half hour stretch and Garlin is fine. In this film he's on-screen way too much. To the point of being annoying. He kills his own movie. But then again, that's not a tragedy.
The script is incredibly week. Lots of not too funny gags loosely tied together by a murder non-mystery. It's set in Hollywood's idea of what LA is like. Lots of nice homes in sparkling neighborhoods with no traffic and parking everywhere. That's ok. But it's not funny. In fact very little in this movie is funny. Most of it is, like Garlin's character, annoying.
Would have given this one star but Amy Sedaris has some bizarre and funny scenes and, most importantly, Natasha Lyonne does a lot with her lines and reaction shots. She's easily the funniest part of this attempt at humor. So, three stars from me.
The script is incredibly week. Lots of not too funny gags loosely tied together by a murder non-mystery. It's set in Hollywood's idea of what LA is like. Lots of nice homes in sparkling neighborhoods with no traffic and parking everywhere. That's ok. But it's not funny. In fact very little in this movie is funny. Most of it is, like Garlin's character, annoying.
Would have given this one star but Amy Sedaris has some bizarre and funny scenes and, most importantly, Natasha Lyonne does a lot with her lines and reaction shots. She's easily the funniest part of this attempt at humor. So, three stars from me.