I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With ***

Directed by Jeff Garlin
Written by Jeff Garlin

Starring:
Jeff Garlin as James
Sarah Silverman as Beth
Bonnie Hunt as Stella Lewis
Richard Kind as Herb Hope
Amy Sedaris as Ms. Clark
Roger Bart as Burl Canasta
David Pasquesi as Luca

80 Minutes(Not Rated)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Garlin's directing debut "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With"-a sometimes self-autobiography and a sometimes remake of "Marty"-is a good little film when taken with a grain of salt. It's witty if you look a little harder, and it's just a short and sweet little project-nothing special, always quite safe. But you won't feel cheated in the end, and I found that I enjoyed way more than I disliked.

Garlin finds himself in a character named James, an overweight actor that lives with his mother. His little fling with one of his co-stars has just failed, and he is back to eating a lot again. His best friend Luca-played by David Pasquesi (you won't know him, but he did some great comedy work in the under seen "Strangers with Candy" and he is very funny here too.)-tells him to eat less and get his life on track, but it's hard for James, who just really wants to love. And he finds something with a rather loud and crude ice cream parlor worker Beth-played by the rather loud and crude Sarah Silverman. She's completely nuts, but he's smitten, and then he might find a better person to be with in the form of Stella Lewis, played by Bonnie Hunt, a schoolteacher that may be just as lonely as he is.

This movie really isn't about plot, but mostly about Garlin getting as many funny faces into as many comic vignettes that he could think of, loosely strung together by this plot. And many of the short scenes are very very funny, but some of them don't quite hit the mark and end up being just plain awkward. One of these features Amy Sedaris-who I've seen in about four of the last fifteen films I've seen-who is getting less and less funny the more I see her. I think her "Strangers with Candy" character was hilarious, but when she's off the mark she is bad. The funniest element of the film is a running joke where James is trying to get an audition in a remake of "Marty," a role that he would actually be perfect for. It's funny what he says throughout-"They're remaking "Marty." Why would they do that? It's a perfect movie! And I can't even get an audition." When it comes to work, he would completely sell out, a joke on actors and acting. And when you find out who they cast for the role of "Marty," in a very funny premiere scene, ending with James and his friend going outside and going "So what do you wanna do tonight?" Those that have seen "Marty" would get the jokes-and I am lucky that I recently ended up seeing it-because if you've seen the film you'll see that Garlin is quite good at satire.

"I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With" is a clever little film, sweet and charming in its own way. It's a great rental film-something light and fun as cheese itself, and a great excuse for some very funny people to get together and make a movie. It's not a powerful and stunning film, but its effective in its independent way, and at times its a lot of fun.

Now Playing At:
Cinema Village