Better Never Than Late on "Them That Follow"

Today will be the third day in a row I’m writing about a movie, but hey, I have the time, the channels and there have been a ton of movies I wanted to see and I’m catching up now.

The one I most recently watched is an indie called “Them That Follow”. I remember seeing the trailer when I went to see “Uncut Gems”, and it stayed with me. I never got to the theater, but it was on cable right after quarantine started, and I recorded it. I just got around to watching it recently, and I was underwhelmed.

Now, the cast in this movie is impeccable. Kaitlyn Dever, Walton Goggins, Jim Gaffigan, Olivia Colman, Thomas Mann and Lewis Pullman are all in this. That’s an Oscar winner, a great stand up comedian branching out and doing drama, one of the funniest and most wild actors that crushes western roles and a super funny, young actor. This should have worked with this cast. The story was also interesting, or had the elements to be. The movie is about a religious cult that uses snakes to show faith. That in and of itself, with that cast, sounds super interesting. Add in the fact that the daughter of the preacher is pregnant with a defector from the church’s baby. And, when he decides to come back to church, pushed by his parents, he gets a horrific snakebite they almost kills him.

Again, this movie should’ve worked. It’s should’ve been good. It should’ve been something I thought about for days. But, after finishing it, I found myself shrugging and kind of bored. I mean no disrespect, the movie just didn’t work for me. Gaffigan barely gets any lines or screen time. He’s just there. Olivia Colman was underused and, when she was given the moment, the monologue was poorly written. Pullman plays your typical weird cult religious guy they drinks too much and is abusive. His character was derivative. Dever’s character could have been much more fleshed out, but she only seemed to be there to unintentionally stir the pot. Thomas Mann, as the defector, was too over the top, and I did not care for his southern accent. But I had the highest hopes for Goggins, and his role just fell flat. He was menacing, but never too menacing. He was religious, but never too religious. He was weird, but never weird enough. It felt like he was restrained, and that’s a bummer. If they let him really go for it, this could’ve been an iconic role. Unfortunately, it is not.

I really wanted to like this movie, but it was just a little too boring for my liking. This movie had promise, but it just missed the mark. Maybe next time.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Better Late than Never on "Booksmart"

Continuing with movies I wanted to see, and didn't have the time or will to go see them in the theater, my wife and I sat down on Saturday night, our self isolation/quarantine date night now, and we watched "Booksmart".

I had heard a ton, a ton of good things about the movie. People I read, and who's opinions I trust, said glowing things about the movie. And I wanted to go out and see it in the theaters. But, for whatever reason, or reasons, we just couldn't find the time. I had forgotten about the movie, but I just recently finished "Movies (And Other Things)", and there is a tremendous chapter about the greatness of this movie. This reinvigorated my interest. We were then looking for a movie to watch, and I saw it on Hulu.

We watched it, and man, this movie was more than worth the hype. It not only lived up to it, for me, it surpassed it. I know a lot of people have compared it to "Superbad", and that is fair, but "Booksmart" is a movie all on its own. It has its own story and characters and direction and the way everything unfolds. While it shares a similar plot to "Superbad", two high school seniors trying to party before graduation, "Booksmart" stands apart.

First off, the two leads, Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, have an tremendous chemistry. Jonah Hill, who is Feldstein's brother by the way, and Michael Cera had great chemistry, but not like these two. The way they interacted with one another was perfection. My wife and I both loved the scenes where they talked each other up after they got dressed to go to the party. Those two scenes were perfection. The way they went on, and the fact that Olivia Wilde just let them go on, was great. They would constantly compliment one another until it was almost too much. But, it never got to the feeling of too much. It was just right. Also, I truly believed that these two were best friends. I read somewhere that they roomed together for ten weeks or something, and that helped build a bond that totally shows up on screen. All the stuff, the dancing, the stresses to getting to the party, the ridiculous stuff that kids have to deal with in high school, the crushes, even the way they left, it all felt so real. I thought back to when I was in high school, and their relationship reminded me of some I had in high school with some of my closest friends. But, they seemed closer. Feldstein was dynamite in this movie too. She was the overachieving, laser focused, top student in school. But, she was also hilarious, took no shit and held her own. Dever played her best friend who is all about protesting, human rights, equality for all, but is also very, very scared to take any real big chances. For example, she has to be pushed to hit on the girl she has a crush on. She is terrified to do it, and when pushed, she finally does, but it does not go well. But, Feldstein does push a little too much, and when she goes past the limit, they have a humongous fight, and I loved the way this scene was shot. They start to argue, we hear them at first, but then it goes silent. They are still arguing, but Wilde pans the room, and all the kids are watching, with their phones on and recording, and you can tell it is over when Feldstein finally mouths, "F You". It was awesome, and kind of powerful in its own way.

Feldstein and Dever clearly make the movie, but everyone else in it was great. Will Forte and Lisa Kudrow as Dever's folks, they were wonderful. So polite and giving and supportive. Skyler Gisondo, as one of their classmates, was sweet and unassuming and dorky in his own way, but thought he was cool. That kid is about to blow up. Billie Lourd was hilarious, and one of the true standouts of the movie. She just showed up everywhere, gave the girls drugs without their knowledge, seemed to have a screw loose, but was just outstanding. She stole the scenes she was in. The rest of the high school kids were perfectly cast. It all worked. As far as the faculty, they focused on two people, the principal, played by Jason Sudeikis, and a teacher, played by Jessica Williams, and they ruled. Sudeikis clearly hated his job, and had a second job as a Lyft driver, which resulted in a fantastically hilarious scene. Williams was the teacher that the two girls loved, and she totally pulled off the cool teacher vibes. She was great. Even someone like Mike O'Brien, in a very small role, was memorable, especially near the end. But when it comes down to it, Feldstein and Dever totally owned this movie. They were so fantastic. I cannot get over how funny and how real everything they did felt.

This is a movie I should have seen much, much sooner. But, I am glad that I have watched it, and now I can sing its praises. Check out "Booksmart". It is one of the better comedies to come out in a long, long time.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.