Okay, here's the plot summary for The Scary Of Sixty-First, which I have copied directly from the streaming service I used to watch it. "While out apartment hunting, college pals Noelle and Addie stumble upon the deal of a lifetime: a posh duplex on Manhattan's Upper East Side. But soon after moving in, a more sinister picture of the apartment emerges when a mysterious woman arrives and claims the property used to belong to the infamous and recently-deceased Jeffrey Epstein."
Yeah. Feel free to go back and read that again, and again, until it sinks in.
Here's my view on comedy, and it's not necessarily one that everyone will agree with. Everything CAN be joked about, and I don't mind jokes about anything. Mind you, I am in quite a privileged position, and I think context is key. Oh, and it matters that the joke is actually funny. I also think there's a difference between making any joke in the company of one or two people and making a joke that you send out into the world, via the internet. My view on taste is similar to my view on comedy, in that something being tasteless isn't a major problem . . . if it's funny enough.
The Scary Of Sixty-First, although it works for some people (which I have since discovered from a couple of conversations I have had), didn't work for me. I found it tasteless, relatively pointless, and, worst of all, unfunny. A couple of moments made me laugh, those moments focusing on the British royal family, but almost everything else became an endurance test.
Madeline Quinn, who plays Noelle, co-wrote the screenplay with director Dasha Nekrasova, who plays "The Girl", and it's clear that those two are having fun. Betsey Brown, playing Addie, puts on a brave face, and performs in one of the most amusingly twisted sex scenes I have seen in some time (it's kind of jaw-dropping, although not really graphic). Although I was worried at how bad Nekrasova might be in the role of writer-director-lead, as the whole thing reeks of an ill-conceived vanity project, she is a solid driver at the wheel, and an enjoyable onscreen presence. I will also mention Mark Rapaport, the other person involved in that aforementioned sex scene, because he fits in well with the overall vibe and humour.
On the one hand, I cannot praise this much. I was left relatively unimpressed and unsatisfied by it. On the other hand, however, it definitely feels as if everyone involved did exactly what they set out to do. There are at least a couple of moments here that I won’t forget in a hurry, and I like it a little bit more now, thinking back on it, than I did when it was all playing out before my disbelieving eyes.
I still dislike it though, but I don’t hate it. And I admire the chutzpah of everyone involved. Maybe their next collaborative project, hopefully with a less sensational hook, will be more to my liking.
4/10
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