Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?

There is something disarming about John C. Reilly's screen persona that makes you want to like him. In silly films such as TALLADEGA NIGHTS and WALK HARD, even if I didn't love the film (such as with WALK HARD), I found myself liking the character played by Reilly--even with his many foibles.

Here, Reilly stars in a black and white short where he simply asks people "Are you the favorite person of anybody?". I assume the people were all actors, but the film has the look of reality about it. What was interesting is that the film got you to think about this for yourself--a potentially sad and lonely or affirming question indeed. While nothing dramatic or life-changing, this was a likable and interesting little film.

This is a simple, poignant short film, shot on a budget of $150: a man with a survey stops passersby and asks them, "Are you anybody's favorite person?" What a heartbreaking question, for somebody who DOESN'T come first in somebody else's heart! Miranda July, who wrote the short story this is based on, had just finished shooting ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW and made this film in the week between shooting and editing the first rough assembly. Miguel Arteta, who directed, was still in love with her at the time, and in an interview with WHOLPHIN said, "The shoot was painless but sure enough, by the time I started editing, we were broken up. This little short is like a rear-view mirror that survived a fabulous, painful crash."

Miguel Arteta's Are You The Favorite Person of Anybody? is a short to deeply contemplate not so much in what it provides us but how we could reply to the short film's central question. It stars John C. Reilly as a socially-awkward businessman with a clipboard asking passersby on the street "are you the favorite person of anybody?" and quickly following it up with "are you anybody's favorite person?" He gives them a list of stock-options found on typical standardized tests (IE: "very certain," "confident," "think so," etc). Despite clearly being a piece of fiction, the passersby respond with believable apprehension and confusion. One woman cites her ex-girlfriend with complete confident to the fact that she is her favorite person, however, with more contemplation, changes her answer from "very certain" to "confident." Arteta, whose short-hand filmography contains the very funny and underrated Cedar Rapids along with the quirky comedy Youth in Revolt, keeps the focus on Reilly, who retains his socially-awkward, sore-thumb quality and the question provides for unmistakable pondering on behalf of the viewer. Are you the favorite person of anybody and why?

Starring: John C. Reilly. Directed by: Miguel Arteta.