Here's a smaller movie from 2016 I've been meaning to get around to. It's about an improv group and the way their close-knit family starts to fall apart as different members start to see different levels of success in their careers, which makes it a drama about comedy, really.
It was cute enough but inconsequential and forgettable - the type of movie I waffle between giving 2.5 or 3 stars on Letterboxd. (Settled for the three, but like with so many other movies, I could see myself readjusting it downward in hindsight.) But one thing did jump out at me, and in a very bad way.
Holy shit. Improv sucks.
I've been to an improv show or two, and I've seen plenty of it on TV, and I've run into "improv people" at parties. I don't hate it! I enjoy it, I understand it, I even think I'd be pretty good at it if I wanted to do it. (I can do impressions, I have a quick enough wit, and I know when to pull out a callback - what else is needed? Okay fine, maybe I'm not high energy enough. Fine! Crush my dreams, already.)
But holy shit, watching scripted improv was painful and cringey in a way I never knew watching improv could be. And I'm not sure that this movie intended for that to be the case. In fact I think this move has an affinity for improv, a love for the artform. I think maybe that was part of the problem - this movie wanted to show how much fun these guys are having doing improv, and it set out to make imrpov look like this wistful, enjoyable way to bond with friends. But again, it's a drama about comedy, I guess, and not really a comedy at all. So maybe I shouldn't hate it for not being very funny. But still. It's about improv comedians. It should have been funnier than this.
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