Brigsby Bear — London Film Festival Review
Brainchild of SNL player Kyle Mooney and his childhood friends, Brigsby Bear was an extremely weird and pleasant surprise for me — a surprisingly dark yet funny and warm tale about fandom and adapting to a new life. It loses some of its unique strangeness as it goes on, but nonetheless proves to be a winner due to its intimacy, optimism, and genuine sympathy for the lead.
Mooney — from a script co-written by himself and Kevin Costello — stars as James Pope, a man who’s only concern is a long-running low-budget children’s TV show named Brigsby Bear Adventures, a strange blend of fantasy and advanced mathematics. When the series suddenly ends without a conclusion, Joe takes it upon himself to complete Brigsby’s story with a movie, while also learning to cope in modern society without the show.
Perhaps the biggest strength of the movie is how well it manages to balance its dark tones with genuine belly laughs. James is shown to be a clearly damaged individual, and the movie doesn’t shy away from showing how he can be dangerous, yet mines great laughs out of his situation without becoming mocking or mean, helped by a strong use of touching close-ups from director Dave McCary. The world of Brigsby is also absolutely fantastic — a great parody of cheap cable access children’s television with an unusually complex lore and a bizarre authoritarian edge (“Curiosity is an unnatural emotion!”). The only complaint I have here is that there isn’t enough of it!
Mooney gives a very strong performance as James, portraying his confusion and obsession perfectly, and pulling off some seriously absurd personality traits without ever making him a caricature. Mark Hamill proves why he’s underrated and awesome outside of Star Wars in his role as James’ guardian Ted, while there are also surprisingly effective dramatic turns from actors primarily known for their comedic chops such as Matt Walsh and Michaela Watkins. Kate Lyn Shiel is amusing and heartbreaking as Brigsby’s twin sidekicks The Smile Sisters, and Greg Kinnear puts in one of my favourite performances by him as a police detective who gets a little too into the world of Brigsby.
Brigsby Bear falters only a little in the final act, where the sentimentality that previously served to heighten the movie’s story takes over too much and leads to a rather cliched ending, where certain characters’ changes of heart either feel unnatural or are simply glossed over completely. But this doesn’t take away too much from what is otherwise an extremely original and utterly hilarious movie with a genuine beating heart. I feel like despite the small theatrical release this will eventually become a hit on Netflix or something, and deservedly so.
