By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Shira Piven
Country: united_states
Year: 2015
Running time: 105
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2788716/combined
Chris says: “Welcome to The Kristen Wiig Show—what other famous comedic actress could you possibly cast as Alice Klieg, a woman diagnosed with borderline personality disorder who wins the lottery and spends all her earnings funding her very own Oprah-esque talk show where she is both star and (sole) subject? In order to make Klieg credible, you need someone fearlessly weird, able to disappear into the role and also elicit at least a twinge of sympathy. This is the rare part that allows Wiig to both showcase the zany talent she displayed as an SNL cast member and the promise she revealed as a dramatic actress in the more serious sections of BRIDESMAIDS. Here, she’s predictably hilarious but also convincingly fragile and damaged—you never don’t buy her as a character and more crucially, you never laugh at her misfortune.
“The tone is nimbly pitched somewhere between single-camera-sitcom cringe comedy and cult film surrealism. One could easily call it a NETWORK for the self casting age; others have likened it to a bizarro-world, distaff take on ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s cult-film TV parody UHF. The vast supporting cast seems a little random: James Marsden, Joan Cusack, a bearded Wes Bentley, Linda Cardellini (great in the best friend role) and on the margins, Jennifer Jason Leigh. The set design is lovingly, imaginatively stitched together, from Alice’s sheltering, overstuffed studio apartment to the evolving (not to mention revolving) set and pitch-perfect graphics of her TV show. As we go deeper into Alice’s head, the show progressively gets more peculiar and extreme and I’d unreservedly love the film more if it also followed suit. Instead, it arrives at a safe, sweet, feel-good conclusion that’s palatable but decidedly less fascinating than when Alice spends a whole episode of her show baking and eating a giant meatloaf cake with sweet potato frosting. 3.5 cats
“(WELCOME TO ME screened at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival)”
Bruce says: “WELCOME TO ME is the kind of film that attempts to supersede descriptions as either a comedy or drama. It can most likely be classified within the realm of dark comedy, although the laughs aren’t exactly in bushels, and the ‘darkness’ might be better described as a grayish hue.
“Alice Klieg is a character that requires much attention, from her fellow in-film characters, yes, but also from the right on-screen direction and portrayal. Her disorder requires our world–THE world–to become her own after her lucky winning numbers hit in the lottery. (Although, the ever so resilient Alice would argue that ‘luck’ had nothing to do with it.)
“The back-and forth attempts at absurd scenes that are intended to engage the viewer on a more light-hearted and comedic level combined with some of the more dramatic moments serve as a bit of a mindbender for audiences who go along with Alice in her inner conflicts.
“The film seems to struggle from the fact that the absurdity of the premise and the scenes featuring Wiig at her zaniest are mostly a part of a Saturday Night Live-esque alternate realty. Alice’s eventual buy-out of a television station airing block that turns into her own show is a concept that also parallels what an SNL comedy sketch might be like. However, the rest of the characters and world outside of Alice’s eventual talk show are very much outside of that SNL feel. Add in a love interest for Alice and the dark edge of the comedy succumbs to a traditional rom-com vibe. In short, it often appears the film doesn’t know what it is. And although this is the case for Alice as well, this doesn’t ever come across as a brilliant attempt at form meeting function. It legitimately feels as if the film doesn’t always know what it is or what it’s trying to be while Wiig tries to tote the banner for the character’s tragedies and triumphs along the way. She goes for it, certainly, but the direction of the film itself just can’t keep up with her.
“Comparisons to NETWORK or a female borderline personality disorder version of TRUMAN SHOW would be accurate. But it’s only the premise that compares. Unfortunately, the fact remains that some of the dark comedic bits just aren’t all that comedic or dark and would be better served blown up huge and chips pushed all in in that SNL sense. It is true that it isn’t intended that Alice be laughed at, but directorial decisions with the camera in which characters are often viewed reacting to her shenanigans seem to indicate otherwise. The audience is sent mixed messages that we should be sympathetic to Alice’s condition, but the on-screen reactions to her zany exploits contradict that. It gets to a point where the film seems to try very hard to give signs to the audience that it’s ok to laugh and still feel something genuine for Alice. However, it’s just not that funny, especially compared to other films that pull off this ‘double switch’ much more effectively.”