Review of Brigsby Bear (2017) by Ben S — 14 Jan 2018

In "Brigsby Bear" we follow James Pope (Kyle Mooney). When his childhood show Brigsby Bear ends abruptly he sets out to finish the story. And in doing so making sense of his own story.

"Brigsby Bear" is definitely an interesting film that could have easily succumbed to unintelligent humor and senseless structure. Director Dave McCary pulls in an impressive cast on his first feature. Coming out of "SNL" I was worried this feature would become a "Hot Rod" or a "MacGruber" relying heavily on "SNL" alums and resorting heavily on slapstick feeling a stretched out failing video short that refuses to end. But thankfully, there is much more at the heart of this film than that.

All of the cast fill their roles beautifully. Mark Hamill, Matt Walsh and Greg Kinnear all give solid performances to help bolster the emotional weight that is always lurking in this film. But the key to the film is through its star Kyle Mooney. It is so crucial that we believe and care about his situation without that, the story never gets off the ground no matter what any of the other cast brings to the table. But he brings a nice mix of sincerity and innocence to the character that makes him relatable and likeable without being fake.

An interesting thing that "Brigsby Bear" does manage to do successfully is it creates no villains. There is plenty of miscommunication and people not understanding truly where the other is coming from which creates conflict. But at no point does anyone ever truly wish ill will on anyone else. It is nice to see all these characters portrayed as people. And they all get their moments to be people in the film. It's refreshing to see a story carried out in this way. And even if the story is wacky it is a foundation of realism and sincerity here that help ground it and make it retable and meaningful.

"Brigsby Bear" isn't trying to say anything too profound or political. Or change the way we make films. But it's sincere in its message. It helps us look at film, and the creative process in general, and how exciting and mesmerizing it can be. The importance art can have in helping us deal with life. And how magical it can be to be passionate about something and to share what we are passionate about with the people we care about in our life.