Review of The Puffy Chair (2006) by Amy W — 26 Sep 2006

[color=black]Josh is this sort of loser guy who used to be in a band but now is reduced to working as a booking agent for bands. He refers to everyone he ever talks to or about as "dude", including his long-term girlfriend Emily.[/color].

[color=black]Josh is about to take a solo road trip from his home in New York to his parents' house in Atlanta to surprise his father on his birthday. He's just purchased this big ugly purple Laz-E-Boy on eBay that looks just like the one his dad had when he was a kid. His plan is to first drive to Virginia to pick the chair up from the furniture warehouse and then to continue on to Atlanta and give it to his dad for his birthday.[/color].

[color=black]Unfortunately for Josh, he and Emily have a big fight the night before he?s supposed to leave. Josh and Emily fight a lot. And when they're not fighting, they're talking baby-talk. (Personally, I prefer the fighting.) As a sort of post-fight damage control measure, Josh invites Emily to come to Atlanta with him. She enthusiastically agrees.[/color].

[color=black]Their first stop is to visit Josh's brother Rhett, who?s lying in the bushes outside of his apartment videotaping lizards when they arive. Rhett's this spaced-out ?dude? with short-cropped hair and a big bushy beard. The sort of guy you'd imagine would get pulled aside for extra screening at airport security just about every single time. Rhett?s forgotten all about their dad?s birthday and Josh suggests that the lizard movie might make a swell present. Rhett hems and haws but decides that an even better present would be for him to come along to Atlanta and surprise his dad in person. (Hmm, a home-made lizard video vs. a visit from space-boy Rhett. This is kind of like having to choose between getting socks or underwear for Christmas.)[/color].

[color=black]Anyway, Josh agrees that Rhett can tag along. This decision disappoints Emily who's in a perpetual state of disappointment for virtually the entire movie. You see, Emily's entire focus in life is on getting married and having babies as quickly as possible. Josh is the likely candidate, seeing as how she's already wasted several years of her life trying to get him to commit, and oh yes, she also loves him. She does things like wake him up as he's falling asleep to demand that he tell her exactly what he loves about her. Or to ask him what he thinks is the percentage chance that they'll get married some day. Though she's probably the most normal character in the movie, her Needy Needleton routine made me hate her.[/color].

[color=black]Not that the other two are completely likable either. Josh is so cheap that he makes Rhett and Emily hide in the van so that he can save $10 on a motel room by telling the clerk that he's travelling alone. And Rhett rambles on in all seriousness about things like the chair filling the van with bad mojo. The puffy chair is actually my favorite character in the whole film. It puts in a solid performance without whining, lying, talking baby-talk, or calling anyone "dude" even once. It just might be the best performance I?ve seen by a piece of furniture since Chairy?s spectacular work on Pee-Wee?s Playhouse in the late 80s.[/color].

[color=black]So anyway, about 45 minutes into the film I'm still sort of on the fence about whether I like it or not. Though it?s fairly amusing, I can?t really embrace it because the characters are all sort of mildly annoying. And then suddenly the screen goes black. And a guy walks in and tells us that we can either leave right then and get our money back [i]or[/i] we can stick around while they position a videotape version of the film to the proper spot and then watch the rest, [i]plus[/i] then they'll give us a free movie pass for our inconvenience. Kind of like [i]Let's Make a Deal [/i]but without the case of Eskimo Pies behind Door #3.[/color].

[color=black]About 10 people walked out (maybe a third of the crowd) including an old lady behind me who smashed my seat with her walker and announced to her companion that she didn't really care what happened to the puffy chair. (Harrumph!) I didn't necessarily care either but nor did I dislike the film enough to walk out after I?d already committed 45 minutes to it. (Sort of like Emily?s approach to her relationship with Josh.) So instead I stuck around and watched as the projectionist blindly fast forwarded through the movie, ignoring the shouts from the audience when it was time to stop the tape, and then after finally stopping it, ignoring our follow-up shouts to rewind. But I suppose that extra minute of footage probably didn't matter much anyway.[/color].

[color=black]Even though I usually like movies about ordinary people in ordinary situations, this one was kind of hit-and-miss for me. Though the basic plot ? three people drive an old chair from New York to Atlanta ? is as mundane as they get, there are a number of very improbable scenes, usually involving Rhett, which left me shaking my head and thinking ?c?mon?. And not in the good way either, where you?re trying to cajole someone into doing something fun with you which you just know they'd be glad they did if only they'd just agree, but rather in the skeptical sense, like ?c?mon, give me a break, no one acts like that in real life?.[/color].

[color=black]In retrospect, I?m glad I stuck around to see the end of the movie, especially seeing as how I was already there and all. It?s not particularly substantive, but it?s a pleasant enough diversion if you don?t want to have to think too much and you have a high tolerance for the use of the word ?dude?. Not quite as satisfying as a case of Eskimo Pies but then again, few things are.[/color].