![]() ![]() Milana Vayntrub of the early years of “This Is Us” stars as Eliza, whom we meet as she’s escorted out of her latest workplace, a cardboard box with her belongings in it. It’s got a few laughs and a tiny dollop of heart, and wouldn’t have made a dime in theaters or much of a splash on Netflix or Paramount+. It’s not his first directorial rodeo, but since no one saw the adorable “Song of Back and Neck,” he returned to the comic situation that keeps on giving for his latest, another story of the cutesy, quarrelsome workplace “family” that has been a fact of life for American sitcoms, if not “real life,” since “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” “Out of Office” was scripted and directed by an “Office” writer and on-air regular, Paul Lieberstein, who was the put-upon HR nebbish on the show. Put Jason Alexander and Cheri Oteri in small roles, give Ken Jeong, Leslie Jones and Jay Pharaoh supporting parts and make the perky “New Ellie Kemper/Kimmy Schmidt” your lead. The cast? Same deal, mix the familiar with the new. “How do I ‘mute?'” “How do I ‘Leave Meeting?'” ![]() Maybe update “The Office” for the Zoom Meeting era, with ditzy “types” over-sharing, accidentally or on purpose, the most intimate details of their messy lives. It’d be derivative - familiar and “new” at the same time. Close your eyes and you can pretty much imagine the full “package” of a movie that would make its premiere on Comedy Central. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |