What would you do if you were about to be executed in a short while? Start making methamphetamine? Dive into a volcano? Make yourself drunk? This time, Byington has made an exceptional dry comedy film with some hilarious moments that make the viewer cringe.
His relationship with David Krumholtz continues after their previous collaboration on Frances Ferguson (2019), a trait common for auteurs like Byington. But Lousy Carter is not your typical comedy movie, as it runs for just 80 minutes including the credits.
Furthermore, other favorite actors such as Martin Starr (Party Down) and Stephen Root (Barry) are also part of the cast. And probably this is one of those cases when women are better than men since Olivia Thirlby (The Wackness) and Luxy Banner in her first feature role steal every scene they appear in. However, its grim theme might not be suitable for everyone but die-hard indie fans will enjoy it!
Fans of Byington’s work should have guessed by now that he has stuck to his signature style- which is fantastic. Who could be more perfect to follow in Byingtonian footsteps and enhance them than Krumholtz himself so as to create the director’s magnum opus? Well, if you’ve seen the trailer or even bothered reading through this logline here, there’s nothing shocking about this very simple idea being based around the much feared news that we all dread from our doctor one day. Therefore, after Mr. Carter- nicknamed “Lousy” since he was young and still called that by many- registers only a slightly distorted face expression to show his feelings about what happened next, we are introduced to other people concerned.
In terms of ensemble it’s really not much – but at day’s end once we reach certain age it seems there are fewer persons coming through our daily life isn’t it? When Lousy isn’t busy teaching an obscure literature course on The Great Gatsby at the undergrad level, he is at a nursing home taking care of his feisty mother Mona Lee Fultz.
Wait, don’t you usually read and analyze F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic in high school? That is funny enough to be addressed in Lousy Carter, where we can only imagine how ever-cynical Lousy would react with an eye roll as he says it to his students including Gail (newcomer Luxy Banner who promises to be a star) in such a deadpan way. Byington uses this technique particularly during moments like these that make one cry with laughter.
Also, Candela- ex-girlfriend of Lousy played by Olivia Thirlby can serve as something similar in the film that reminds audience about Academy Award-winning Juno directed by Jason Reitman (2007). In Lousy Carter she plays a former lover of an educator who later has quite inappropriate relationship with the student; yet in Juno she portrays a highschool girl who develops questionable affair with one of her teachers. It is just another example of ‘six degrees of Kevin Bacon’ game all movieholics have been playing throughout their life.
In this absurdist story, who can play the role of his equally parched partner-in-crime than Martin Starr, a dependable scene stealer? They have worked together before like on Freaks and Geeks, though. In this movie, Starr plays another teacher in Lousy’s school called Kaminsky. Lousy’s interest shifts to Kaminsky’s attractive wife, Olivia (Jocelyn DeBoer). Maybe he is thinking something like “Hey! I am running out of time. So why not?”
Stephen Root has recently been featured in an Emmy-nominated supporting role as boss Fuchs in HBO’s beloved dark comedy series Barry. In Lousy Carter’s movie, he portrays a therapist whose accent is questionable and cannot be easily identified — if that is even relevant at all. As Milton Waddams effect goes for it when you recall his iconic little character from Office Space—rightly viewed, still limited Root screen time here is Nonetheless — you know the sort of thing it is; but after the credits stop rolling….
Despite facing mortal danger at every turn, Lousy still manages to navigate through his everyday life trials: job environment, temptation, money problems and anger management. Though we may not be hurtling towards our own deaths as fast as Lousy does here, the down-to-earth character retains some sanity to an otherwise crazy story telling method employed by this film. Yes you will laugh – but most importantly your heart will change by the end of this brief run-time.
That “feeling” might be a bit too much of a downer for some people seeing this flick i.e.: those lovers of all those annoyingly cheerful romantic comedies we are talking about here. Krumholtz spoke about how much he loves MCU but do not expect these kinds of thrills in a movie like Lousy Carter. Instead savor such instances as she mentioned happens sometimes -when you witness some uncomfortable moment that makes you pause and think about your actual place in society.
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