Mike Berbiglia, Keenan-Michael Key
“DON’T THINK TWICE” My rating: B+
92 minutes |MPAA rating: PG-13
Fledgling authors are advised to write about what they know.
Filmmaker Mike Berbiglia has taken that message to heart. While other new directors are bent on referencing other movies and duplicating long-established genres (horror, crime, raunchy comedy), Berbiglia makes movies about what he knows.
And he’s getting really good at it.
A standup comic, Berbiglia made his directing debut in 2012 with “Sleepwalk With Me,” a semi-autobiographical comedy based on his own career, relationship issues and especially a life-threatening sleep disorder.
His followup feature, “Don’t Think Twice,” is also set in the world of professional comedy. It feels so awesomely authentic you just know almost everything in it has actually happened to Berbiglia.
Loosely plotted — to leave room for tons of character development — “Don’t Think Twice” observes the six members of The Commune, a struggling improv group in New York City.
These comics work menial jobs so that they can devote the weekend to putting on shows in a falling-down theater before small but generally appreciative audiences. They’re improv purists who rely on the ticket buyers to pitch ideas which they instantaneously turn into comedy gold.
They live for their hour a week in the spotlight. And for vindication on a larger stage. Maybe, just maybe, they can land a gig on “Weekend Live,” the “SNL”-ish network powerhouse capable of turning unknowns into household names.
They’re a motley bunch. Allison (Kate Micucci) is a big-eyed waif. Lindsay (Tami Sagher) is mostly big — with a hefty trust fund that allows her to live in her own nice apartment while everybody else shares a ratty flat.
Bill (Chris Gerhard) is so timid-looking you wonder he has the guts for improv. Samantha and Jack (Gillian Jacobs, Keenan-Michael Key) are an item; she’s a team player, while he’s perfectly willing to grandstand.
In charge (if that’s the right word) is Miles (Berbiglia), who’s been doing improv the longest and whose chances of stardom peaked years earlier. Now he teaches comedy classes and halfheartedly sleeps with his female students.
Left to right: Tami Sagher, Gillian Jacobs, Kenan-Michael Key, Mike Berbiglia, Chris Gerhard, Kate Micicci.
They are, ostensibly, a one-for-all-and-all-for-one bunch (which is, after all, the essence of improv). But midway through “Don’t Think Twice” one of them gets a chance at stardom, and whatever relationship cracks may have been lurking below the surface now erupt.
What’s worse, The Commune’s home theater is about to give way to a wave of gentrification. When it goes under, what will these sad sacks have to fall back on?
Berbiglia’s screenplay allows each of these characters to reveal themselves a bit. But just as important is the atmosphere in which the film is steeped, one of camaraderie and competition, yearning and anger.
The pleasure of performing and the agony of never making it to the big-time have rarely been captured with such insight and sympathy.
Anyone considering a career in show business should make “Don’t Think Twice” a tutorial. It’s worth a semester in acting school.
| Robert W. Butler
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