If you are a sucker for US indie dramedies, especially ones about naively precocious misfits, prepare to sink into the soft and fluffy arms of Kyle Mooney’s writing debut.
Saturday Night Live comedian Mooney, who casts himself in the lead role, is spot-on as James, a bunker-dwelling geek who one day discovers his whole world is a lie.
Reintroduced to reality, all he wants to do is re-create Brigsby Bear, a TV series designed by his fake dad, Ted (Mark Hamill), to improve James’s grasp on theoretical maths so he can become a genius and solve a fiendishly tricky problem called “the Vansmithe conjecture”.
James’s cathartic, DIY film-making project gets off the ground thanks to his black best friend.
It’s a shame this character is too good to be true (endlessly tolerant, hip and supportive, he’s the Sundance equivalent of a Stepford Wife). James’s interactions with the deluded Ted are far more fun and the best lines are worthy of Rushmore. “So your mum solved the Vansmithe conjecture.” “What is it?” “Six! It was six all along.”
