Sweet, full-hearted and utterly likeable
Brigsby Bear (M, 97 mins) Directed by Dave McCary ★★★★1⁄2
Brigsby Bear is about to become a whole lot of peoples’ favourite film of the year.
I’ve never been too fond of film reviews that reference a bunch of other movies while failing to describe the one at hand.
But for Brigsby Bear, because I feel such a desperate desire to not spoil this film for anyone, I’ll just say if you’ve ever seen and enjoyed – in no particular order – any of Bad Boy Bubby, Edward Scissorhands, The Science of Sleep or Napoleon Dynamite then don’t even bother reading the rest of this rant. Just go and get yourself a ticket now.
You can shout me a pint later. Brigsby Bear slots neatly into that small but notable genre of kids raised in captivity or social isolation, finding a way to make sense of the world outside.
The genius of Brigsby, is that it does what it does within a framework and a setting that function perfectly well as a nofrills, American suburban comedy.
It’s a film about the outsider’s place in society, about the importance of letting people excel at what they actually want to excel at. About retaining our own faiths, cultures and stories in the face of what everyone tells us is now the new normal.
All that, and a scathing fable of cookie-cutter education systems, plus a sly and occasionally perfect satire of low-budget film making and the arc of an actor’s career.
The fun Mark Hamill (Star Wars) is having with his bigscreen renaissance is sent up beautifully. Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live), Greg Kinnear, Michaela Watkins and Matt Walsh are all more than fine in the other lead roles.
Maybe Hamill and Jane Adams seem far too nice to actually be the people the screenplay tells us they are. And maybe a late handful of scenes set in a psychiatric hospital seem more about narrative convenience than credibility. But those are trifling criticisms.
This is a sweet, full-hearted, resolutely crowd-pleasing and utterly likeable film.
Brigsby Bear is – literally – the reason that movies are made. Go see it. – Graeme Tuckett