Final Rating: 3.5/5
It’s important to insist up front that this genuinely is the tiny, no-budget comedy that could (get into theaters) that it appears. One that will whisk you across the city of Baltimore with two people who laugh at life, because what else can you do. But it’s probably also wise to warn that the opening minutes of director Jay Duplass’s The Baltimorons showcase a man’s drunken attempt to take his own life – hardly the comedy advertised on the tin.
Those few minutes, however, ground the one hundred minutes of feel-good laughs to come. Because, it turns out, there’s a lot of truth to this tale – especially those opening minutes, taken straight from lead actor Michael Strassner’s life.
On the surface the yarn of a man who bonds with his dentist after an emergency appointment one Christmas Eve, The Baltimorons is a walk-and-talk-all-night romance that will speak to fans of the likes of Before Sunrise and Rye Lane. It will also scratch the itch of anyone missing HBO series Somebody Somewhere, also produced by the Duplass Brothers (and which just crowned its third and final season with a well-deserved Emmy for actor Jeff Hiller).
That show’s devotees will recognize much of its DNA in this quirky (snowless) Christmas comedy that offers a relatably imperfect hang with likable people who enjoy each other’s company. Like Somebody Somewhere, this is also a story – in fact, mainly a story – about second chances.
Jay Duplass’s face will be familiar to many from his acting career, which launched suddenly with his casting as one of the lead roles in the hit series Transparent. Before that, however, he was happiest with his brother, fellow actor Mark Duplass, behind the camera. Together, the duo directed indie films like The Puffy Chair and Cyrus, eventually inking a production deal with HBO.
As Jay’s brother found himself pulled more to the front of the camera, Jay himself wondered if he could still direct movies (and not just television) when he was no longer a duo. Reaching his 50th birthday mid-career crisis right on cue, he realized it had been more than a decade since he last directed a film – and it was time to turn that around.
Duplass knew that he would need to keep the production small and affordable. (The actors bonded between takes in a stray car, no production trailers in sight.) So he went in search of a suitably intimate, slightly silly, emotionally impactful story to drive his film. Fortunately for both parties, around the same time Duplass began following Michael Strassner (Big Boy, Modern Family) on Instagram, enjoying the off-brand sketches he shared in his reels.
Strassner took advantage of his new connection at the right moment, telling him his story of alcoholism, a suicide attempt that ended with a broken belt ‘because he was carrying a little bit of holiday weight,’ and ultimately sobriety. Like Duplass finding his way back to directing without the crutch of a brother-collaborator, The Baltimorons (the name of an improv sketch Strassner’s character Cliff is known for) is about its main character finding his way back to comedy without the crutch of alcohol.
Not to neglect that it is also, of course, about Cliff figuring out his love life: whether he can continue to make it work with his long-time partner Brittany (Olivia Luccardi of Channel Zero and The Deuce), who has been with him through his darkest moments and lives in fear of it happening again…or if there a reason why he can’t seem to end his impromptu evening out with the other leading player in this picture-book pantomime: Didi, played by Tony-nominated Liz Larsen (whom Duplass discovered in a stage musical production of Transparent).
Also in many ways inspired by the actor who plays her, Didi – a divorced mother of an adult daughter, and a refreshing hand’s breath older than her unexpected male companion this Christmas Eve – is starting to feel invisible. As the night unfolds, it becomes clear that Cliff and Didi do see each other in the way each needs, leading to one of the most equally charming and sexy improv sessions ever committed to film.
Overall, The Baltimorons is a meandering story of connection where the duo’s rough edges are worn down by a stream of playful banter and deeper revelations. They keep trying to say goodbye, but you know they won’t until they run through the litany of activities teased throughout the film.
Yet, still, it’s hard not to find yourself hanging on every scene, wanting to see how the journey will end. This cosy depression comedy, filtered through the faded saturation of a ‘lived in’ Instagram filter, will rarely deliver a belly laugh – but it will keep the corners of your mouth gently turned upward until its hope-struck final moments.
Thank you to IFC Films and Route 504 PR for the screener.
