Last year, I looked at a film called Shithouse (or Freshman Year, as it rather lamely got retitled for its Australian release) as part of my work for FilmInk. I was quite floored by it, as it felt like a genuine expression of what the world looks like through the eyes of an introvert, and it was one of the biggest surprises I got from a film that year. Naturally, when discovering that director/writer/star Cooper Raiff already had a follow-up in the works, I knew I had to take a look at it before the end of the year. With the attachment of names like Dakota Johnson as co-star and producer, I went into this expecting more of the same that Shithouse delivered, but with something of a higher budget. But that’s not what I got. What I got was a film that exceeded how much I fell for Shithouse, but by going in the complete opposite direction.
The Cooper Raiff that shows up on-screen here is like night-and-day compared to his performance as Alex in his previous film. Where Alex struggled through damn-near every conversation he had with other people, his portrayal of Andrew is of someone who learnt how to overcome those difficulties and pass on that knowledge to others.
Fresh out
of college, living back at home with his mother (Leslie Mann) and stepdad (Brad
Garrett), and working as a party starter (basically the guy who encourages
everyone at a bar/bat mitzvah to start dancing), Andrew is basically the nicest
guy on Earth. I don’t mean he’s a nice guy in its asshole connotation, where
he’s feigning it just to get laid, but that he’s genuinely sweet and thoughtful
and accommodating of others. It’s still that same introverted perspective, but
it’s now being applied practically for interacting with other
introverts, giving them (and yourself) a space to be comfortable and vulnerable. A place to bond over shared awkward experiences, like dancing the Cha Cha Slide as a kid.
His interactions with Evan Assante as his younger brother David, Dakota Johnson’s Domino and Vanessa Burghardt as her teenaged daughter Lola all have this Mister Rogers vibe, where he asks questions and then… actually listens to what the other person has to say, even if it’s not much. I’ve seen way too many film stars try to give off this same kind of sociable screen presence, but end up failing because you can tell how hard they’re straining to give that impression. Whereas here with Raiff, it doesn’t feel like there’s any artifice to it. Namely, because the writing and drama stakes aren’t forced in any real way.
It helps that the casting also shows that that sense of accommodation goes beyond the story of the film, with the inclusion of Lola as an autistic character, and being played by an autistic actress. Burghardt herself is fantastic here, fitting in beautifully with the general vibe of earnest and genuine emotionality to make for some highly effective moments between her and Raiff. Her character has agency beyond the diagnosis, her mannerisms are identifiably and realistically on the spectrum, which honestly gave me a lot of feels as an autistic myself, and after the fiasco surrounding Sia’s Music, I’ll admit it, it’s pretty gratifying to see more evidence that Sia was indeed talking utter nonsense about autism on film.
And when
the naturally sweet dialogue meets the excellent casting and performances, what
comes out might be the single most wholesome film I’ve seen all year. Even when
a bar mitzvah breaks out into a fist fight, Raiff still finds a way to turn it
into a moment of bonding between characters without ever turning cynical or
mean-spirited. It’s a comforting hug put to a screen, and every bit of warmth
it creates is doubled by how it doesn’t force any of it, or deny people being
allowed to feel like shit when the moment calls for it. It’s the kind of
earnestness and open-hearted honesty that might strike some as corny, but quite
frankly, I’m still shocked that a film could get me this worked up over
homemade T-shirts. I mean, it's technically cringe comedy, but rather than cringing, I just wanted to dive into even further into what this made me feel.
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