`CHAIR' DOESN'T REST ON PREDICTABLE.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic A relationship comedy about the perils of road trips and buying furniture off eBay, ``The Puffy Chair'' began life as an ultra-low-budget calling card for Mark and Jay Duplass, but, through its sheer smarts and emotional sharpness, has ended up being something much more. The movie, co-written by the brothers, directed by Jay and starring Mark, played the festival circuit last year, picking up a lot of love and a few awards along the way. It's easy to see why. This debut feature takes two genres that have been done to death -- road trips and romance -- and makes them into a fresh, funny, clear-eyed and involving film about coming to grips with adulthood. Emily (Kathryn Aselton) has about run out of patience with longtime boyfriend Josh (Mark Duplass). Josh just broke up his New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of indie rock Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that primarily exists in the independent underground music scene. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with underground music as a whole, though more specifically implicates that the music meets the criterion of being rock, as band, and his new booking agent Noun 1. booking agent - someone who engages a person or company for performances booker agent - a representative who acts on behalf of other persons or organizations impresario, promoter, showman - a sponsor who books and stages public entertainments gig isn't going so well either. Now is probably not the best time for Emily, 26, to be pressing him for some kind of long-term commitment, but with Josh, the question must be asked (and is): Will there ever be a good time? Josh has bought a burgundy recliner off of eBay. It's just like the one his dad had when Josh was a kid, and childhood memories have a powerful pull for Josh in these days of stagnant adulthood. He means to drive his van to North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , pick up the chair and deliver it to his parents' home in Atlanta in time for dad's birthday. Of course, complications come up: Josh, feeling like he must, asks Emily to join him. Josh's simple-living hippie brother Rhett (Rhett Wilkins), a man who sits in bushes and films lizards, invites himself along. The ``puffy chair'' isn't quite what Josh had in mind. Emily keeps badgering Josh. (``Give me a percentage,'' she asks him, looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the probability of a proposal.) Everything -- the low-rent, unpredictable situations, the dialogue (Josh calls Emily ``dude'' -- another bad sign) -- feels real and moves back and forth between humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was and heartache without missing a beat. The cast of unknowns is excellent, particularly Aselton. The ending is a knockout, particularly after the filmmakers throw us something of a change-up right before the last scene. The emotions are messy and authentic and remind us how much the bogus ``Break-Up'' cheated. ``Puffy'' plays it real. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com THE PUFFY CHAIR - Three stars (R: language) Starring: Mark Duplass, Kathryn Aselton, Rhett Wilkins. Director: Jay Duplass. Running time: 1 hr. 24 min. Playing: Landmark Nuart, West Los Angeles
In a nutshell nut·shell n. The shell enclosing the meat of a nut. Idiom: in a nutshell In a few words; concisely: Just give me the facts in a nutshell. Adv. 1. : Dude, girlfriend and hippie brother go on a road trip to pick up a recliner won off eBay in this fresh, funny comedy about people coming to grips with adulthood. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Star Mark Duplass and his brother Jay, who directed ``The Puffy Chair,'' joke around in this candid can·did adj. 1. Free from prejudice; impartial. 2. Characterized by openness and sincerity of expression; unreservedly straightforward: In private, I gave them my candid opinion. photo. |
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