Mubi Monday: Results (2015)

It is easy to view gym life as quite a cult. Those who work there tend to be positive and full of motivational mantras, and those who end up responding well to the lifestyle end up acting like someone who has been recently converted to some kind of new religion. I don’t say this with malice. I speak from experience, and that experience is ongoing as I try to remain committed to my own gym and fitness schedule. Results is a movie that has fun with this idea, especially in the way it presents two fitness instructors with two very different ways of viewing life.

Kevin Corrigan plays Danny, a man who wants to get into shape. He wanders into a gym and chats to Trevor (Guy Pearce), who ends up pairing him up with a trainer named Kat (Cobie Smulders). It turns out that Danny is quite rich. It also turns out that he finds Kat attractive. Furthermore, Trevor also has a thing for Kat. What follows is a constant clash of differing attitudes as every one of these three main protagonists is somehow helped by the others to correct their path through life.

Both Pearce and Smulders are great fun here, butting heads in a way that you know is just distracting them from a chance to see their relationship potential. Pearce has to be almost constantly optimistic and positive throughout, while Smulders enjoys being a bit more confrontational and carefree. Corrigan is an actor I have loved seeing in supporting roles for years, and his excellent turn here makes me wish he had many more people willing to give him this amount of screentime. Giovanni Ribisi is good fun in a small role, a partying lawyer, and Anthony Michael Hall feels as if he is channeling Dolph Lundgren whenever he appears onscreen as a kettlebell guru named Grigory.

Written and directed by Andrew Bujalski, who has helmed at least three gems in the last decade or so, Results is a well-constructed comedy drama that stays enjoyable throughout, even in the scenes that hint at darker or more cringe-inducing options. This is as much to do with the performances as it is to do with the script, but Bujalski clearly has a talent for dialogue and characterization that attracts some great actors to his projects. It is also worth noting that this isn’t a film making fun of those who enjoy fitness or gym life. It is saying that there is no one easy “fix” for any of us, whether in the gym or just in life, but nobody is mocked here for trying to better themselves, even while they struggle. As anyone who has been trying to get fit for a decent amount of time can tell you, you can learn just as much from failures as you can learn from success.

There might be some people who would have preferred this to be a sharper film, a meaner one, but I think Bujalski has judged it perfectly. It’s a typical look at some characters trying to sort out their problems and create a decent future for themselves. They just all happen to be connected by their ongoing attempts to develop healthy bodies and healthy minds.

8/10

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Support The Girls (2018)

Some things will always seem odd to me, despite the fact that we are exposed to so much American culture here in the UK. The idea of Hooters, for example, a restaurant/bar chain with a very specific USP. I see the obvious appeal, but it just never feels like a winning mix. But what do I know? It’s even stranger when you think of those business models also being open to as wide a variety of customers as possible. A family dinner out at Hooters? Each to their own, I just cannot imagine that ever being a choice I would make.

This is all a precursor to my discussion of Support The Girls, a film based on people working in a premises that isn’t a Hooters, but is very similar to them. Regina Hall plays Lisa, a manager dealing with a variety of problems on a very busy day. Not only are there practical issues needing resolved, Lisa also tries her best to help the staff working for her. And she is struggling to keep her marriage together. It doesn’t help that her boss (Cubby, played by James Le Gros) has no consideration for the people he employs. 

Marketed as a comedy drama, there’s really not much to laugh at here in Support The Girls. I am not saying that as a criticism, it’s a great little film with a superb lead role for Hall, but I don’t want people to be disappointed by the preconceptions of a film that doesn’t play out as expected.

Written and directed by Andrew Bujalski, who has an enjoyable little filmography I recommend checking out, Support The Girls is essentially about that human touch that makes the world of difference in every job role, whether in terms of customer service or the morale of the team. We are too often expected to do too much for too little, and the individuals who help us, either practically or with a generally supportive and positive attitude, are the ones who help us get through the day. This is especially true for anyone working for a large business that has a boss prizing numbers ahead of everything else.

I’ve been a fan of Hall for many years now and I cannot stress enough what a great role this is for her. She fits it so well too, with her mix of optimism, strength, and good work ethics, and this is easily one of her best performances. Haley Lu Richardson and Shayna McHayle are both very good as two employees/work colleagues, Le Gros convinces as the kind of boss who won’t be swayed by talk of his workforce being actual humans with actual lives, and Lea DeLaria stands out as a customer, Bobo, who appreciates the female servers without disrespecting or demeaning them (unlike some of the unruly male patrons who frequent the establishment).

Essentially just another “full, stressful, day at work” movie, this is smartly crafted by Bujalski to maximise various points about how workers are treated, by employers and customers. Every cast member is right for their role, no weak links here, and the ending is suitably bittersweet. I recommend this as a film that deserves your support.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Computer Chess (2013)

A low-key comedy drama from writer-director Andrew Bujalski, Computer Chess is set in the 1980s, and focuses on the various characters attending a tournament that is set to pit man against machine. It's about time for the machines to start winning, which will surely disappoint the traditional chess players.

Despite the cast here, the easiest story strand to follow belongs to a player named Papageorge (played by Myles Paige). Papageorge is a bit disorganised in his life, to say the least. He is in need of a hotel room, in need of money to pay some people he needs to pay for pills, and needs to win against a machine. But will any of his needs be met?

Using the time and place to pick apart the precious attitudes of people not necessarily wanting to welcome the ongoing march of progress with open arms, Computer Chess may well be about chess, but it features people and attitudes that will be recognisable to anyone who has encountered passionate hobbyists, gamers, and various gate-keepers in any small community. The conversations here range from the dry to the heated, and there are even some strange scenes of sexual awkwardness.

Presented mostly in black and white, and with a lot of the conversations dropped in and out of while everything simply rolls along, Bujalski runs the risk of creating something far too irritating and uninteresting for most film fans, but he somehow manages to make it constantly watchable. Keeping many scenes very busy, allowing viewers to take in some other small details and snippets of chat while the individuals meant to be the focus of the scene simply drone on about something that is usually only interesting to themselves.

Paige is very good in the role of Papageorge, and there are a number of other wonderful performances from people I wouldn't recognise in any other films (if they ever starred in any other films). Pitched just perfectly between slightly stylised and perfectly natural, every performance feels just right for the tone of the film, and the gentle prodding coming from Bujalski. This is absurdity, but it's absurdity presented in a way that never spells it all out, instead letting one scene run into another, and another, with the full effect only really obvious as you sit back and think about all that you've just watched.

Although I'm not familiar with the filmography of Bujalski, I hope that some of his other movies are in line with this one, if not better, and I look forward to checking out his work. For others who are unfamiliar with his name, I'd cautiously recommend this. You have to know that it's a film that doesn't seem to be about anything really important, yet the fun comes from everything onscreen being very important to the main characters.

8/10

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