Review of Don't Think Twice (2016) by Amy B — 10 Aug 2016

I expected 5 stars and got 3.

The performances were uniformly excellent. The characters themselves had some meat, but they didn't come together well. The story was uneven and at times cliched, and ultimately less than the sum of its parts.

All of the characters are lost narcissists operating at various levels of insecurity. I found little to relate to, but I understand that others do and the movie might really speak to them in a way I did not hear. I was most enthralled by the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl whose character develops over the course of the movie, but the way we understand her at the end doesn't totally synch with how she was presented in the beginning. The other characters don't have enough screen time for us to really understand them (6 characters divided by 90 minutes).

I've heard Mike Birbiglia say something along the lines of "The Big Chill for comedy," and I think it falls short of that in two ways. First, the soundtrack to The Big Chill is what the comedy scenes should have been in this movie - moments of brilliance mixed into the plot. Don't Think Twice just doesn't have those jaw-dropping moments of hilarity. Its humor is more subtle, and it doesn't elevate the characters or plot. Of course, The Big Chill used classic songs, and Don't Think Twice couldn't really intersperse the best comedic moments from a given decade.

And the second difference is that this movie didn't evoke the overall feeling for me that The Big Chill does, but I think the key words in there are "for me." If I had done improv in school my life would have gone much differently, and one major difference might have been recognizing the characters on a deeper level and truly loving this film.