I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006)

A Trifle Twee

There isn't a lot of occasion to use the word "twee" these days. But that word, with its connotations of forced cuteness, does seem to fit this movie as a whole. Furthermore, each scene is like the movie's title - overly long and wandering, and ending with a weak-kneed preposition.

Jeff Garlin, costar of the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" TV comedy series, wrote and directed "Cheese," apparently using the same improvisational techniques that Larry David uses to distinguish "Curb." However, the results here are the opposite of the loose-limbed, double-jointed results in "Curb" where everyone seems cocked to take a jab in an unexpected direction. Here we just end up with a rambling and lame series of unfortunate events. If you like "Curb Your Enthusiasm," you probably won't like this - a wistful kite of a film that is simply let loose to rise into thin air.

Garlin uses the theme of "Marty" as the one hook that might have snagged the action. As he wanders through different Chicago settings, he tries to cast himself as a Marty character, an unpopular, somewhat unattractive (or so we are asked to presume) fellow, looking for love. He in fact hopes to audition for the lead in a re-make of Marty, the role he was born to play. However, even this promising theme ends in pointless improbability.

All the action here is too improbable to be funny or to allow us to identify with Garlin. For example, he shops at a large, surreally empty grocery store where the clerk/owner only stocks foods he likes - which means none of Garlin's favorite rice pudding goes on the shelves. In another scene, Garlin accompanies his would-be girlfriend as she strips bare in a boutique dressing room and tries on underwear. I don't know of any clothing store that would allow that. So again, the scene dissolves into ridiculous kookiness.

There's another moment where some edginess might have entered the picture - the moment when Garlin gets rejected by a young woman who had previously encouraged his affections. We might have gained some insight here into the games people play in their drive to exercise malicious power. But once more, this potential for something truer and deeper evaporates. The film cuts and disconnects to yet another wandering scene.

As a further disappointment, Garlin, who can be a colorful conversationalist, didn't provide any director's/writer's commentary on the DVD to help fill all these voids.

It all adds up to a lot of lost potential. The film could have been a chance to portray sweet, lovelorn yearnings - something the world needs to see again. In the end though, it's not so much about a man who wants someone to eat Swiss cheese with, as it's simply a slab of something full of holes.
June 9, 2008

Bizarre movie with unsatisfactory ending

The physical quality of the product was fine; however the movie itself was uncommonly bizarre, with a completely unsatisfying ending - not just in comparison to mainstream movies, but even to independent movie standards. The movie on the whole would be at least marginally worthwhile if not for the abrupt ending that makes the picture appear like the production team just ran out of money. I can't say I would recommend the picture. June 2, 2008

On His Own, Jeff Curbs His Enthusiasm

An amiable, if uneventful movie. Plot: struggling actor James Aaron (Garlin) wanders Chicago looking for a breakthrough in his love life and his acting career. Along the way, we meet some of the offbeat characters in his world, including a convenience store clerk (Dan Castellaneta), his mom (Dina Kolb), and his niece's grade school teacher (Amy Sedaris). For those who have watched Garlin on Curb Your Enthusiasm, you'll see many of that show's actors here. Also, he has a fling with Sarah Silverman, a restaurant worker whose character doesn't do anything particularly funny. Garlin acts in the movie as he is, I think, in real life: a passive, likeable, sweet guy. Silverman acts as I think she is in real life: a smiling she-devil. Together, they don't have much chemistry, which is probably why Garlin doesn't go for the easy Hollywood ending.

I Want Someone doesn't try too hard, which might be its biggest problem. But it's likeable. It's like a nice walk down Michigan Avenue on a spring day with a good friend. Nothing great happens, but nothing bad either.
May 16, 2008

There should be more movies like this.

Like another reviewer noted, this is a modest effort, a small but thoughtful and satisfying movie, I wish there were more like it. It's clearly a labor of love for all involved and Jeff Garlin has an ingratiating screen presence, sympathetic without being totally pathetic. This movie makes some smart observations and manages some genuinely funny laugh out loud moments. It's perfect for a night at home. May 12, 2008

This Cheese could use some aging

Fans of Jeff Garlin will be curious to see how well he stands without comic support from Larry David and Susie Essman his best friend and wife respectively from the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm". The results are decidedly mixed.
While taking a ...(read more)much sweeter tone than "Curb", it tries to explore similar themes of failure of people to relate to each other in anything but superficial or selfish terms.
Garlin who wrote, directed, and co-produced this film could have benefited from rewriting many scense to make them seem more natural. Another round of edits could improve the pacing and flow of the movie, giving it a consistent rhythm.
While relying on many actors from "Curb" (Jeff's wife Marla Garlin is casting director for both) the film is unevenly cast .
Most the dialog is forced and unnatural. The actors appear to be reciting lines that have been memorized rather than internalized.
What a difference from the spontaneity of "Curb" where much of the dialogue has been improvised. The exception is when Sara Silverman appears as a freaky soda-jerk. Ms. Silverman brings much needed attitude and freshness to the movie.
In fact the only time the movie truly comes to life is in the convenience store scene in which Jeff and Sarah Silverman improvise dialogue between ordinary people who have a chance encounter in the ailses of the store.
So all in all, you''ll find "Cheese" rather bland than nutty, rather mild than strong.
This cheese could have used some aging. May 10, 2008

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