By Erin Free
Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
David Krumholtz, Jocelyn DeBoer, Martin Starr, Luxy Banner, Olivia Thirlby
Intro:
...takes drollness to curious and often very entertaining new levels...
David Krumholtz is one of those actors, who’s just, well, been around. Rarely if ever the lead (except for in the well-regarded TV show Numb3rs, a cop drama in which he played a genius mathematician who helps his FBI agent Rob Morrow solve crimes), Krumholtz has brought the laughs in films like The Santa Clause, Walk Hard, Ten Things I Hate About You and the Harold & Kumar movies, and a host of TV series. In the new comedy Lousy Carter – a wonderfully bone-dry affair from writer/director (and roundly unsung auteur) Bob Byington (Frances Ferguson, Infinity Baby, Harmony & Me) – David Krumholtz gets a rare shot at a juicy leading role, and he goes for it with judicious and ingenious aplomb.
Byington has featured Krumholtz previously in minor roles, and Lousy Carter is very obviously written specifically for the veteran character actor’s particular and peculiar rhythms. Krumholtz is the eponymous and decidedly ornery college literary professor, who teaches just one book, The Great Gatsby, and spends most of his time belittling his students, which usually just ends up making him look even more useless than them. When Lousy Carter is given a terminal diagnosis (by one of many hilariously unfeeling and disinterested medical professionals seen in the film), he indulges in a little (but not much) self-reflection, as well as engaging in an affair with the brittle wife (the very funny Jocelyn DeBoer) of his best friend (the always excellent Martin Starr), and also considering a fling with a young student (newcomer Luxy Banner…a star of the future, you heard it here) while arrogantly pontificating about Lolita. Though a self-obsessed deadbeat seemingly heading toward the light with little to no thought of others, there is something undeniably and strangely likeable about Lousy Carter.
Caustically and inventively funny (Lousy’s put downs are nearly as amusing as the put downs he receives), economically told at just 80 minutes, and jammed with captivatingly unusual characters that constantly surprise and wrong-foot the audience, Lousy Carter takes drollness to curious and often very entertaining new levels, and showcases Bob Byington as a wholly singular writer/director with a style that echoes the likes of Woody Allen and Noah Baumbach, but which remains steadfastly his own.
Lousy Carter screens at The Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 7. Click here for all screening, ticketing and venue information.
