Slow Learners opens with a couple of
scenes that are brilliantly executed, and also set up the oddball tone of the
comedy fittingly. After about 1/3 of the unique narrative about two socially
inept school teachers with atrocious dating skills, the story shifts into a
series of predictable and cliché plot structures. Even worse than this
predictability, however, are the scenes in which the improvisational comedy
made me stop laughing and feel embarrassed for the actors. However uneven the
overall experience of Slow Learners may
be, there are enough funny scenes to make enduring the bad ones worthwhile.
Jeff (Adam
Pally) and Anne (Sarah Burns) are co-workers and close friends who share a
mutual inability to find love. When school lets out for the summer they hatch a
plan to develop a social life by transforming themselves, though they are
clearly best suited for each other just as they are. Slow Learners is far from subtle in its pointed criticism of the
bar scene, deservedly so. If I had to guess, I would say that this film was
fueled off of the bitterness of experience. Jeff’s method for suddenly
attracting women, after plenty of comedic missteps, is simply acting
indifferent to their presence. Anne’s success comes from heavily increasing her
alcohol consumption and overall trashy behavior.
Beneath the
countless scenes of obnoxious drunken behavior replacing the lovable quirkiness
in the characters, the advocacy for ‘being yourself’ becomes obtusely clear.
The message is effective, but possibly too much so. When the film gets bogged
down by the changed behavior in the protagonists, I found myself losing
interest in the film. The characters are far more compelling when they are
being their oddball self, as seen in the opening scenes, but the story must
spend time where they act like everybody else in order for the predictable
ending to unfold.
The quirkiness of the characters
before they go through their makeover phase, combined with a few brilliant
supporting performances that often feel shamelessly shoehorned into the
narrative, are what make this a comedy worth checking out. Here’s my one
suggestion; skip any scene involving a reality TV show and you won’t miss
anything funny, and skip the double dinner date if you don’t want the point of
the movie crammed in your face amidst aimlessly awkward improvisation. Only a
trailer is included in the special features.
Entertainment Value:
8/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 4/10
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