The pressures and struggles of fame bewilder a group of long-time friends, when a fight for a prestigious television show divides them. In “Don’t Think Twice”, When a member (Keegan Michael-Key) of a popular New York City improv troupe gets cast on a hit TV show, the rest of the group, all best friends, start to realize that not everyone is going to make it after all. Through lives that include multiple jobs to stay afloat, the group of friends try to stay supportive for their gifted friend, while dealing with their own personal jealousies that open up more than one gaping hole that negates the overall smooth chemistry of the group’s rhythm. However, the show must go on, and together the six friends instill laughs to the Big Apple night after night. The film is also blessed with a powerfully funny supporting cast that includes Gillian Jacobs, Chris Gethard, and the film’s writer/director Mike Birbiglia. “Don’t Think Twice” is rated R for adult language and minor drug use.
Birbiglia’s latest is a magnum opus of sorts for the writer turned director. “Don’t Think Twice” is a perfect informative tutorial to anyone who has ever been curious about the positives and negatives to Improv Comedy, and the effects of inevitable fame that can tear a group of friends who once seemed inseparable, apart when one makes it bigger than the rest. What’s so insightful, as well as serene about Mike’s script is that he doesn’t shy away from painting a less-than-flattering picture about the sacrifices of New York City dreams. The Big Apple has always been painted as such a land of dreams coming true in past films that call on the city to be its own character, but not with Birbiglia. His portrait of this town feels honest and unabashed about the cost of fame, and that look also informs us on the brilliance of Improv. With this flavor of comedy, you will either get it or you won’t. I myself don’t usually enjoy Improv comedy, but the actors in this film played it off to the point of inspiring me to seek it out myself in person for the first time ever. A sheer testament to the importance of an ensemble cast in this movie.
That is perhaps the most telling aspect of the movie’s charms; its reliance on an ensemble cast, instead of grading one higher than the rest. Despite the film’s intentions of painting Michael-Key as the breakout star of the story, the even attention to camera time is very equally divided. What I found enjoyable about this idea is that the movie has very little scenes where these six characters aren’t together. This makes the concept of equals push even further than we are used to seeing in Hollywood comedies. If anyone did breakout more than the rest for me, it was in Jacobs performance as Samantha, a woman who is forced to step back and re-examine her life and what she wants out of it. I respected the superb emotional growth that Jacobs displays here, never feeling forced or subdued by the many evolving stories playing out within this circle. There’s a scene in the final ten minutes of the movie involving Jacobs and Michael-Key that nearly brought me to tears, and that really serves as a testament to how gifted this duo are, especially with them playing an on-screen couple in this film. With the rest of the cast, what’s incredible is that they are all playing off a script, but feel completely wrapped in their capabilities as an improv veteran. Everything portrayed in every scene feels like they were given the general idea surrounding it, and filled in the blanks with their creativity, and dammit it always works.
The script feels very simplistic, but it rarely hinders the creative aspect for the movie. If I had one complaint, it’s late in the second act after the predictable aspects of the movie give way, and the film feels like it’s hanging in place for about 25 minutes before hopping to the next story arc. It doesn’t hurt much, but it does slow down the smooth continuity flow of a movie that is a crisp 85 minutes overall. On that aspect, Birbiglia is wise to understand that while there isn’t a lot of revolving aspects to this story, there is certainly enough tightly packed bang for the creative buck. What I found admirable about this script is that it doesn’t just rest on its laurels of being a comedy. It instead surprised me with some of the more melancholic aspects of a friendship affected by one being more popular than the rest. You slowly start to see the wheels grinding to a halt within the lifestyle that these six friends enjoyed, but an unexpected turn twists everything upside down, and within that conflict we see jealousy, sabotage and even dark pasts being brought to the forefront. There’s simply so much to enjoy about this gem, and I feel that it certainly deserves a wider release.
One thing I wanted to mention was the visual feast within the camera angles for the movie. If a comedy really wants to surprise me in 2016, it will engulf me creatively with its technical charms, and “Don’t Think Twice” certainly more than lives up to this credo. The film features lots of beautiful constructed revolving shots, that encompasses the entire group in one single shot. The revolving here works beautifully, as all improv acts involve multiple actors. We weave in and out of these stage works like one of the cast watching from the side.
In addition to the cinematography in camera work and design, the movie spoofs a familiar Saturday night institution very close to home. This movie has a fine chance of being the movie that SNL producers don’t want you to see, either for its shocking similarities to what these writers and performers go through every day, or because some of the imitation isn’t the sincerest form of flattery. SNL founder Lorne Michaels in particular has been known to dislike anyone who does an impression of him, and the head honcho on this show appropriately titled “New York Live”, may be the straw that breaks his back. Everything is very practical with how they spoof, complete with identical flash cards and text texture. I understand this is meant as intentional, but the film reaches borderline lawsuit territory with how close the film plays it. This movie does no one favors who wish to make it on this dream job, and this conflict made me torn between Birbiglia’s haunting reality, or serving as a distracting nature to the obvious layering of forced antagonism within the movie.
Overall, “Don’t Think Twice” is a surprisingly bitter display of emotional conflict when the world doesn’t feel funny anymore. The film definitely packs enough laughs to warrant its classification as a comedy, but it’s in the talented ensemble cast, as well as solid storytelling with harrowing reality, that lifts it above average. A glimpse into the portrait of decaying adult friendships one stage at a time.
7/10