Josh Reviews Self Reliance

In the opening minutes of Self Reliance, we meet Tommy (Jake Johnson), a single man living a solitary life.  He works out, he goes to work and sits in front of a computer, he eats meals alone.  But his lonely routine is interrupted when a limo pulls up beside him one day and Andy Samberg (playing himself), invites him in.  Turns out Tommy has been selected to compete in a dark web reality show, in which he will earn a million dollars if he can survive the hunters trying to kill him for thirty days.  The hunters can’t kill him if he’s not alone, which Tommy thinks is an easy loophole.  But it turns out it’s much harder than he thinks to be with someone, without a minute’s exception, for 24 hours a day, for an entire month.  Things seem to take a turn for the better when Tommy meets Maddy (Anna Kendrick), another player in the game, but even that doesn’t make him as safe as he thinks it will…

Self Reliance is the directorial debut of Jake Johnson (New Girl, Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), who also wrote the script and stars as Tommy.  This is quite a showcase for Mr. Johnson, who I’ve always enjoyed as an actor!

This is an interesting film, in that I very much enjoyed it while I was watching it; but when I reached the end I was left somewhat unsatisfied, as the story didn’t resolve in a way that I found entirely satisfying.  But the film is a fun ride.  The premise is intriguing, and Mr. Johnson’s story kept me guessing throughout.  There are enough weird turns that kept me engaged, trying to figure out just what the heck was going on.  (Was this game show real?  Was this all just a delusion, as Tommy’s family is humorously convinced it is?  Or was something else entirely going on?)  (The set-up of the film reminded me a little of Paul Feig’s recent film, Jackpot!, though in execution the two films are very different.  Neither are entirely successful; I think I prefer this one.)

Jake Johnson is a charismatic lead, and he’s fun to watch go off on this strange adventure.  Mr. Johnson is able to balance a comedic energy that was engaging and likable — and very funny at times — while maintaining the seriousness appropriate to a man who truly believes his life is in danger.  And the film really comes alive when Anna Kendrick’s Maddy enters the story.  Ms. Kendrick has always been great at balancing comedy and drama (in the Pitch Perfect films, as well as in films such as 50/50 and A Simple Favor), and she’s a delight here.  We can tell that something is a little off with Maddy; Ms. Kendrick’s performance draws the audience in as we want to try to figure her out.  She and Mr. Johnson have great chemistry.  I love watching them together, and the film’s main failing is that Maddy pretty much drops out of the story for the final act.  That’s a disastrous choice, as for me it took the wind out of the sails of the movie’s ending.  I wanted to see Tommy and Maddy’s story resolve, to see some payoff to the bond we’d seen them form as well as the repercussions of the revelation of Maddy’s true backstory.  (Having the last shot suggest a reunion wasn’t enough for me; this should have happened on-screen.)

Mr. Johnson has assembled a fine ensemble to flesh out the story.  Emily Hampshire (Stevie Budd in Schitt’s Creek) and Mary Holland (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Typhoid Mary on History of the World Part II) are terrific as Tommy’s sisters Mary and Amy (who are entirely unamused by what they see as Tommy’s selfish, self-deluded antics).  It’s a pleasure to see the great Christopher Lloyd, who is marvelous in the one scene in which he appears.  Natalie Morales (Lucy on Parks and Recreation) is also very strong in her one scene, playing Tommy’s ex-girlfriend Theresa.  Bill Wiff is a delight as James, the homeless man who Tommy hires at one point to be his shadow.  Daryl J. Johnson is very funny as Tommy’s brother-in-law Malcolm, and Nancy Lenehan (Pleasantville, Catch Me if You Can) does nice work as Tommy’s exasperated mother Laurie.  It’s nice to see Eduardo Franco (Argyle on Stranger Things) pop of as one of the “ninja P.A.s” filming the show.  Andy Samberg is fun, as always, here playing a version of himself.

The film is a brisk 87 minutes, and I had a lot of fun watching it.  I just wish I felt the ending had landed more strongly for me.  After such an exciting and intriguing premise, I felt things petered out on an “eh” note.  I loved the way the character of James was developed; I’d expected Tommy’s hiring a homeless man to hang with him 24-7 would backfire disastrously, but instead their relationship blossoms into a lovely bromance.  But neither that relationship — not Tommy’s burgeoning friendship with Maddy — seem to play into the ending in the way I’d wanted or hoped.  Both actually wind up being sort of irrelevant to the resolution of the story, which felt like a letdown to me.  But I enjoyed Self Reliance — it’s a strong directorial debut from Jake Johnson, and I hope he returns to write and direct more films down the line.

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