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Review: Brigsby Bear (2017) ★★★

<p>Having watched Kyle Mooney’s Youtube channel and subsequent success on <em>Saturday Night Live<&sol;em>&comma; I can say without reservation that he is as bizarre as he is hilarious&period; His brand of comedy functions as playfully detached self-degradation&comma; where any and all strange tangents that one’s brain experiences come to life and interact &lpar;often uncomfortably&rpar; with the real world&period; His speech is used as a reflection of his characters’ own insecurities&comma; utilizing fragmented and slurred words&comma; with less-than-perfect use of common phrases and idioms&period; This brand of comedy is put to excellent use in Dave McCary’s <em>Brigsby Bear<&sol;em>&period; The film&comma; written by Kyle Mooney and Kevin Costello&comma; feels like a sneak peek into Mooney’s strange take on the world&comma; with its many arbitrary rules and confusing intricacies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In <em>Brigsby Bear<&sol;em>&comma; we are first introduced to James &lpar;Kyle Mooney&rpar;&comma; a young man who lives in an underground bunker with his parents&comma; Ted &lpar;Mark Hamill&rpar; and April &lpar;Jane Adams&rpar;&period; James&comma; who is not allowed to leave the house&comma; is obsessed with a surreal&comma; low-budget children’s show called Brigsby Bear&period; He owns every tape of the show ever made&comma; and he frequently discusses different fan theories concerning the show with his parents&period; One night&comma; James sneaks out onto the roof of the bunker&comma; where he sees police cars approaching&period; In a chaotic sequence&comma; James’ parents are arrested and the police bring James back to the police station&period; As it turns out&comma; Ted and April are not his real parents&comma; but actually his abductors&period; Having desperately wanted a real child&comma; they kidnapped him as an infant and deceived him into believing that the world outside was a toxic wasteland&period; Now reunited with his biological family&comma; James is a complete outsider in the real world&comma; unable to comprehend the complexities of modern life&period; Knowing nothing but the life lessons he learned from Brigsby Bear&comma; James attempts to assimilate into normal society&comma; but he is unable to shake the passion for his favorite television show&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What works best in <em>Brigsby Bear<&sol;em> is that it allows Kyle Mooney to just be weird&period; His character&comma; having internalized years of strange family rituals&comma; morals&comma; and pseudo-science from Brigsby Bear&comma; has no frame of reference for anything out in the world&period; His understanding of technology is even antiquated&comma; having had no access to the Internet&comma; and no contact with real people outside his deranged&comma; but oddly sympathetic parents&period; When James starts using Google for the first time&comma; he asks questions politely&comma; in a manner that no normal person ever would&period; He also frequently repeats phrases that he has just heard&comma; albeit awkwardly and completely ignorant of their meaning&period; Its an environment in which Kyle Mooney’s comedic talent truly shines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1139" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1139" style&equals;"width&colon; 850px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-1139" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;12&sol;28BRIGSBY-master768-300x143&period;jpg" alt&equals;"James Brigsby costume" width&equals;"850" height&equals;"406" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1139" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">James never loses his passion for Brigsby Bear&comma; which makes him both a fascinating individual and a pariah to those around him&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>While Mooney gives a fantastic performance as the film’s hopeless protagonist&comma; and the premise feels completely new and refreshing&comma; it ventures into very familiar territory once James starts to adjust to the outside world&period; The rest of the characters are very understanding of James&comma; to a degree&comma; but of course his weirdness eventually alienates him&comma; forcing him to face the harsh realities of life outside of the bunker&period; Tonally&comma; it feels like any other underdog film&comma; albeit with a unique story of its own&period; If not for the offbeat story and Mooney’s natural charisma&comma; this would be just another bland feel-good movie with an ending that anyone could predict&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Brigsby Bear<&sol;em> is definitely worth a watch&comma; and ultimately it is an incredibly funny and altogether peculiar film&period; Thankfully&comma; producers Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone &lpar;among others&rpar; were able to give <em>Brigsby Bear<&sol;em> a sufficient budget&comma; which is especially surprising considering the peculiar script&period; And though it is pretty traditional in its structure and tone&comma; <em>Brigsby Bear<&sol;em> showcases Mooney’s talent as both a writer and a leading man&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch <em>Brigsby Bear&comma; <&sol;em>it is currently available to rent or purchase <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B0743LXCTV&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B0743LXCTV&amp&semi;linkId&equals;e85c0329d85311bf0db5c47bc692bbb7">via Amazon here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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