'Self Reliance' stays off-balance enough to grin through discomfort
Hulu
Watching “New Girl” episodes again, you (I) still can’t believe how beautifully the cast meshes together and with the show’s goofball energy. And how you care about what happens to everyone even when you don’t necessarily believe what’s happening to them. And that “homeless guy comic relief” was ever a thing.
Hey, all of that also applies to “New Girl” star Jake Johnson’s directorial debut “Self Reliance,” in which Tommy (Johnson) agrees to participate in a dark web reality show where murderers can’t attack him as long as this lonely, isolated man remains within a couple feet of another person. Like the show that turned Johnson (who also wrote the movie’s script) into a star, “Self Reliance” is usually funny enough and charming enough to overcome sometimes weak ideas, though occasionally it’s a close call. Again: Tommy paying unhoused James (Biff Wiff) to stick by him is wrong for 4-5 reasons, and Anna Kendrick (as another participant who teams up with Tommy) is very much given a type to play rather than a person who seems real. Similarly, the issues behind Tommy’s breakup with his longtime girlfriend (Natalie Morales) are straight from the textbook of countless Apatow/Duplass narratives about commitment, comfort zones, and emotionally stunted manchild business.
Why, then, does “Self Reliance” still feel at least worth a vaguely positive shrug? Maybe it’s Johnson’s ability to keep the movie moving, showing more awareness as a director than he does as a writer (his best co-write to date is “Digging for Fire”). Persistent uncertainty about the game’s unreality brings curiosity that can set aside worries about “Self Reliance” flirting with a Nick Miller descent into a particular David Fincher thriller whose title would give away too much. Of course, Johnson’s also kinda doing Joe Swanberg’s “Hunger Games,” with some “Bottle Rocket” and numerous hunting-a-person narratives there too, but asides about formerly loving Michael Jackson’s music or the “Ellen” show also speak to an underlying notion of having to say goodbye to things that no longer feel the same to us.
That isn’t a commentary on cancel culture but on life as an experience in flux, with Tommy typically needing to learn to get out there and mix it up in new and exciting ways. The underrated “Nerve” is a much sharper blend of internet culture thriller and offbeat romance. The zany “Self Reliance” just needs you to be satisfied with simple and shaggy, and there’s a decent chance you will be.
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