My Thoughts on Louis CK:
People are fallible. People deserve forgiveness. Apologies can be judged, but without a mind reader, no one can truly know, except for the ‘culprit’, the true level of sincerity.
Having prefaced that, how about a movie review?
I was lucky enough to have my finger on the pulse when Les McCurdy put out the secret showing of Fourth of July at AMC Sarasota. Louis, due to the aforementioned controversy, is now a bootleg comedian, meaning you have to go to his website and rely on the old ear to the ground to get news about his shows and projects.
Fourth of July, written and directed by Louis Ck and co-written and starring Joe List is a solid story which treads on a topic rarely traversed: what happens when you surpass your family in mentally and physically healthy behaviors?
Sticking to my no spoilers, I’ll simply list the choices that can happen: confronting and trying to get your family to change, confronting and burning bridges if the toxic behavior can’t be changed, limiting visits to short time intervals, or self-sacrifice for holidays and birthdays.
Joe List can definitely handle a lead acting role. His face can both evoke and attempt to suppress emotions. His “family” were all good actors; with Nick Di Paolo being the funniest and Paula Plum capturing a stoic mother perfectly. I love Bobby Kelly and laugh just looking at him, the same way that Will Ferrell and Louis CK (who in this film plays Joe’s insensitive therapist) make me feel.
I thought the beginning of the film and the cathartic scene held the most promise. Typical of many independent films, the subsequent pacing was a bit clunky at times, musical interludes a little too long (jazz piano scene, bringing in the fishing boat scene, green screen suspense with Joe’s dad character). Yet overall, the balls to the walls humor and the taboo topics make this movie a solid 8.5 out of 10 and worth seeing if it does become available in a major release.
