BAND AID – Review

With respect to those most Righteous of Brothers, this new film could’ve been title, “They’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin””. Yes, it’s an “anti-rom-com.”. It covers what happens long after the “meet cute”, the “mis-communications”, and the “reconciliations after the misunderstandings” that lead right to the fade-out proposal or nuptials (or both). These two have definitely “hit the skids”, but instead of “turning into said skid”, they take an unusual detour. Rather than undergoing major marriage “surgery”, like a gold band extraction, they believe that the way to heal old emotional may only require a simple BAND AID.

Married thirty-somethings (er…late thirty-somethings) Anna (Zoe Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally) seem to be stuck into a deep, deep, rut. A failed writer, Anna earns a buck now by being a Uber driver (cue the montage of zany, obnoxious passengers), while Ben designs company logos and corporate art from home on his laptop (ah, the smell of procrastination). When Anna returns home, the two immediately clash, particularly over kitchen clean-up (“I only used one bowl”), escalating into screaming matches ( “FU” bounces back and forth between them like a tennis match). They’ve gotta’ get out of their one-bedroom LA cottage, so they reluctantly go to her friend Grace’s (Hannah Simone) for her kid’s birthday party (Anna and Ben are childless, not for lack of trying). There, amongst the “kinder-chaos”, a magical thing occurs. Anna and Ben pick up a “kiddie” toy microphone and guitar and improvise a song. The fighting has ceased, and they’re laughing with joy. Maybe this is a new way to bond, to mend the cracks in their relationship. Returning home, they dig out their old electric guitars from the storage pile in the garage. What could be the basis for their songs? How about their arguments and annoyances? Their next door neighbor Dave (Fred Armisen) hears the tunes emanating from the garage and drops by, telling them that he had once played drums for a band. Anna and Ben nod politely, giving him the ole’ “brush-off”. As their playing begins to take over every spare moment, the duo decide that they need to be a trio and finally invite the eccentric Dave to be their drummer. Hearing of an “open mike night” at a local bar, they plot to make their big debut. Could this mean a new career and more importantly, an invigorated relationship for Anna and Ben?

Despite wearing three hats (creative-wise) for this flick, Lister-Jones delivers a compelling performance as the damaged (but not destroyed), endearing and often frustrating focus of the story. For much of the early scenes, Anna is an angry, open wound, quick to lash at her hubby, and later reel from guilt. Then Lister-Jones shows us how that inner happiness is slowly ignited until her joy from creating music is a roaring flame. We’re then shown her great comic skills, especially as she gulps down some natural “creativity enhancers”, and later as she over medicates before a public concert. It’s not long before that flame is nearly extinguished, and Anna is tumbling toward despair. Pally (so funny on TV’s “The Mindy Project”) is excellent as her life/song partner as his Ben rediscovers his child-like exuberance. But as a new career beckons, Ben is “gun shy”, too afraid that the rug will be pulled out from under him once more. On a different, quirkier level is the performance by Armisen as an oddball who’d be another citizen of his beloved TV show “Portlandia”. As he awkwardly tries to join the band, his Dave seems like a strange semi-stalker. This makes Anna and Ben’s visit to him (to offer the drummer gig) even more hilarious as Armisen switches gears to make Dave the neighborhood’s “Hef”, being waited on hand and foot by two gorgeous women. Then we see him take charge and focus the duo when arguments begin to derail the band’s journey. The rest of the cast is filled with familiar faces from stand-up and “indie”TV with Susie Essman scoring with a role that’s far from her lauded work on TV’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” as Larry David’s foul-mouthed nemesis. Shirley, Ben’s mom, is set up as a typical clueless matriarch, but when things fall apart, she’s the nurturing voice of reason that her son desperately needs.

Now, those other hats I mentioned earlier about Lister-Jones, are director and solo screenwriter. As a film maker she does a good job of pacing in the first two acts, effortlessly shifting gears from domestic despair to tune-filled, uniting liberation. It’s not until the band’s emerging success and the rift between the couple when the story starts losing its momentum and plunges into a bit of somber “navel-gazing”. There’s a nice comic energy to the kid’s party (thanks to the over-indulgent parenting), and a concert montage all set during one song works very well. The emotional fireworks, and “water-works”, really strain the script structure, unfortunately. Oh, and the original music’s pretty good, as is the glimpse of the collaborative creative process. It’s with those sequences along with the terrific cast that make BAND AID really sing.

3 Out of 5

BAND AID opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

I will be talking about this and other films on the Paul Harris Show, Friday 6/16 from 4:15 to 5 PM on KTRS 550AM. Tune in or stream live.