Though a slow start, *I Used To Be Funny* had us in its grasp toward the end.
Given Sam's story first and foremost, the supporting players in *I Used To Be Funny* have a challenging role. Ground both Sam and the movie by her roommates Paige (Sabrina Jalees) and Philip (Caleb Hearon). Brooke, the young daughter Sam nannies grows near, is played by Olga Petsa Watching the duo swing back and forth between love and alienation while we gradually come to understand what occurred between them hurts. Petsa is remarkable and in their most dramatic sequences holds her own opposing Sennott.
Still, it's Sennott's film, a marathon rather than a sprint at last. The actor negotiates sequences that must have been extremely taxing, and she does it with an integrity much beyond her years. She is definitely a comic actor in her soul and heart, but the most entertaining actors who can attain the depth needed for a character like Sam are frequently the ones Sennott still gets to be hilarious, but we haven't yet completely seen her investigate a quiet comedy.
Easy to Want a Little More From the Conclusion of *I Used To Be Funny
Watching *I Used To Be Funny* when it finally shows up at the scene we have been waiting for makes nothing easier. Though nothing explicit is ever displayed, the heart keeps hammering and a bad feeling forms in the pit of the stomach nonetheless. Though the whole movie depicts Sam's steady march toward becoming herself again, her instantaneous change in behavior and the inspirational ending come too quickly following the intensity of the last memory. Between the lowest low and highest high of the film, we have no time to breathe.
Still, *I Used To Be Funny* will be with me for a very long period. The filmmaking gets only better as the narrative moves forward. Though unsettling, our placement into the story is deliberate. Given Toronto is a character unto itself, its Canadian context is also a welcome diversion. The sad quality of the movie can drag one down and make it challenging to go through. Still, the humorous events offer enough brilliant flashes to enable us to feel much more than just gloom and even a tiny hope.
*I Used to Be Funny* Review: Rachel Sennott deftly employs her dramatic talents in dark comedy.
For a film on PTSD, *I Used to Be Funny* is not at all "used to." Funny in the here and now, the movie reminds viewers that, although laughter isn't the best treatment, occasionally it's the only way moving forward in the wake of the unspeakable. Best renowned for her comic appearance in *Bottoms*, *I Used to Be Funny* gets Rachel Sennott to develop the dramatic muscles she employed in her previous effort, *Shiva Baby*. She portrays Sam, the stand-up comic unable to seem to move past her past with the family she nannies for.
Though I'm not sure what happened to Sam, the careful use of flashbacks kept me just enough in the dark to watch with expectancy. Though others may not know Ally Pankiw, those of us *I Used to Be Funny's target audience most certainly already know her work—mostly with directed TV episodes of *Feel Good*, *Shrill*, and *The Great*. Pankiw directs and writes here, developing great sympathy for Sam without absolving her guilt. When she treats her pals as less than, they are honest.
The impact of social media and the immediacy of people's comments on Sam and her rehabilitation felt witheringly true to reality.
A movie needle drop is fine, but having too many of them—including two songs by Phoebe Bridgers—took us momentarily out of the story. These online-famous tunes seem out of place in a story so real. The impact social media and the instantaneous opinions of people had on Sam and her rehabilitation felt witheringly true to reality. There is no escaping the remarks and criticism of online strangers, much as reality.
Many of these remarks are accompanied with films of Sam's stand-up, which runs all through the movie. The key problem with any movie or TV show including stand-up comedy, though, is that the writer has to create original good stand-up. Walking for the performance and the audience's responses to seem natural and unscripted requires a delicate line. Fortunately, character conversation is what soars. These are the talks I have had and the vocabulary I use every day, which lends *I Used to Be Funny* a real feel.
Former up-and-coming stand-up comic Sam battles to regain her sense of humor and direction following a horrific occurrence deraying her career.
Sam faces her past and discovers fresh means of expression as she works through therapy, chance meetings, and re-connections with former acquaintances. The movie examines closely the difficulties of trauma. The movie sends a lesson about the road to recovery to its audience. A big audience would most likely enjoy the interesting plot and the characters.
Opening in New York theaters on June 7, *I Used To Be Funny* It will be released in Los Angeles on June 14 and on digital June 18.
