Musings: What romantic-comedy mockery does “They Came Together” do best?

You can tell that director David Wain wants his new film, They Came Together, to be as iconic as his most famous work, Wet Hot American Summer. The intent soaks the film, manifesting in every crazy aside, every use of Christopher Meloni, and every bizarre sex scene. They Came Together is Wain’s attempt at recapturing the weird magic of Wet Hot American Summer, but it doesn’t quite work—you can’t strike ridiculous lightning twice. (Check out Travis's review here.)

Nevertheless, stars Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler—as Joel and Molly, respectively—give it their all, and for as much as the film feels like an overly long sketch jammed before the 1 a.m. cutoff on Saturday Night Live, there are moments here as memorable as Meloni and his can of vegetables. If you’re going to end up seeing or renting They Came Together this weekend, do it for these five moments.

+ “He’s handsome but in a nonthreatening way; vaguely but not overly Jewish.” “Molly is the kind of cute, klutzy girl that sometimes will drive you a little bit crazy, but you can’t help but fall in love with her.” One of the first things They Came Together does well is introduce the main characters played by Rudd and Poehler, and could they have been more spot-on in their generalizations of romantic-comedy protagonists? Absolutely not. Especially if you’ve ever seen Rudd play a romantic lead, like he did way back when in Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” – Paris basically defined “handsome but in a nonthreatening way.”

+ Amy Poehler shaving her face. In an early sequence, a split-screen shows Rudd and Poehler getting ready for their days in a similar fashion—singing along to the same song in the shower, for example—and then Rudd shaving his face … while Poehler also shaves her face. It’s so stupid, but her cutesy, grinning face as she smears shaving cream all over it has stuck with me since.

+ Jason Mantzoukas’s beard. The thing should get its own IMDB credit. Whether he’s trying to tame it down as a candy-company executive or letting it look all crazy while he’s in costume as a vampire, it’s a thing of beauty. Bless this man’s commitment to growing, and keeping, insane facial hair. It’s almost as important to the film as Michael Ian Black’s greasy sideswept hair and orange tan—because if you’re a romantic-comedy villain, that’s just how you look. That’s just true.

+ “That’s the point of view I represent!” says Kenan Thompson, who plays the token married and token black friend to Rudd’s Joel. If only all movies were this upfront about their casting quotas.

+ That time Joel pulls a cheeseburger out from behind the ear of Molly’s-never-before-mentioned son, who immediately calls him “Daddy.” We’re so used to seeing romantic-comedy protagonists try to charm children onto their side, but at least Wain abandons the change route—who even uses coins anymore?—and goes straight for the grilled-meat option. I keep hoping someone will pull this move on me someday. I would love them for the rest of my life. 

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Review: David Wain's 'They Came Together' Starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler

Normally, when David Wain is at the peak of his comedic powers he's also at his most bizarre.  His seminal comedy hit Wet Hot American Summer is incredibly ridiculous, offbeat, and distinct in the way that many consider it a classic, while others will probably never get it. Most recently, Wain has been dabbling in more mainstream efforts such as Wanderlust and Role Models, but his latest film They Came Together is a poor attempt to reclaim his indie cred by tearing to shreds the most conventional genre of all: the romantic comedy.

That's right, the old rom-com, which everybody can admit is stale and painfully formulaic. That seems to be the entire point of Wain's film, which stars the bulk of his 'Wet Hot' cast, with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler in the lead roles as a couple whose love follows a familiar step-by-step path. The problem is that Wain isn't especially clever in pointing out the silliness behind the infamous "meet cutes", contrived romantic obstacles, and phony emotional entanglements that litter romantic comedies. We're all in on the joke right from the beginning, and Wain struggles to make that one joke fly for more than 20 minutes, much less the 83 minute run time.

The whole set-up is basically ripped from You've Got Mail; perhaps the stick by which all formulaic rom-coms will forever be measured. Molly (Poehler) and Joel (Rudd) are at a restaurant on a double date with a bored married couple (Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper), when the dinner conversation turns to how they met and fell in love. All the standard genre tropes are rolled out in a fashion that is initially hilarious because we all recognize them: Molly is an awkward but lovable candy shop owner, so innocent and pure and she gives all of her profits to charity. Joel is nominally her perfect match, but he works for a huge corporation planning to open its own store right across the street and put Molly out of business. When the two meet, of course they are instant enemies despite the obvious physical attraction, but soon they overcome the tension with the help of their stereotypical ethnic best friends.

It's obvious that Wain and his talented cast are having a lot of fun with this, and the film is at its best when it ventures into ludicrous tangents that feel separate from the rom-com shaming. Wain favorite Christopher Meloni co-stars as Joel's money-grubbing boss, and his embarrassing toilet misadventures at a costume party are a highlight. Joel has his group of racially diverse buddies (including SNL vet Kenan Thompson and The State'sKen Marino) who all play basketball (badly) and act as Joel's voices of reason. While these scenes are funny and clever in their own way, you can almost hear the gears grind to a halt during a torturous, repetitive sequence between Joel and a bartender over the phrase "You can say that again". It's one of those scenes that starts off funny, becomes tiresome, but never goes back around to being funny again, and you know that's what Wain was hoping for. The film's weak double-entendre of a title should tell you there's nothing subversive going on here; every joke is pretty obvious.

Unfortunately, there are too many moments just like that one. There comes a point when Hader and Kemper's characters begin to grow weary of the overlong tale, and it's a pretty good reflection of how the audience will feel at that point. Satire is a tough beast to tame, and while some of Wain's jokes are obviously meant to be terrible, surely not so many were designed to fall as flat as they do. Rudd, who has been in more than his share of lame romantic comedies, plays along with the gags and pokes fun at himself most of all. He and Poehler make for a great pair, one that wouldn't be too surprising if they were in a straight-up rom-com at some point, but they just don't have enough material to work with. As a fan of The State and Wet Hot American Summer, They Came Together feels like Wain flailing desperately to reclaim that old magic but finding it simply isn't there.

NOTE: This is a reprinted review from the Sundance Film Festival.

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James Badge Dale Joins 'Stretch'; 'Veronica Mars' Adds Martin Starr and Ken Marino; Brad Copeland To Pen 'Knight Rider'

* James Badge Dale has had a pretty good run of flashy supporting roles of late, appearing in World War Z, Iron Man 3, and Flight. Now his The Grey director, Joe Carnahan, has taken to Twitter to reveal Dale's role in the indie action comedy, Stretch. While his role is unknown, he'll join Patrick Wilson, Chris Pine, Ed Helms, and Brooklyn Decker in the story of a hard-luck chauffeur who seeks to pay off his debt by driving around a mysterious billionaire, only to have the trip turn into a nightmare.

* It's not going to be a total Veronica Mars reunion for Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell. They're adding some new faces as well, and one of those is fellow Party Down alum, Martin Starr. After rumors began surfacing last week, Thomas revealed to fans that Starr had joined in the new role of Lou "Cobb" Cobbler. Thomas also confirmed that Ken Marino would be back as fellow P.I., Vinnie Van Lowe. With all of these Party Down castmembers, maybe they can shoot that movie while they're at it?

* So how do you make silly 1980s TV series Knight Rider modern and cool when today's cars are more advances than K.I.T.T. ever was? We could be about to find out as The Weinstein Company are keen on bringing it to the big screen, hiring Brad Copeland (Arrested Development) to begin work on a script. The original show was largely responsible for the David Hasselhoff problem we're still dealing with, as he played crime fighter Michael Knight, an ex-detective now working with his talking car, K.I.T.T. A 2008 TV relaunch didn't last very long, but with so many movie franchises centered around high-powered vehicles now may be a good time to take a fresh approach. Which may be why they hired Copeland, a writer known mostly for his comedic work. We could be looking at an oddball car/human buddy comedy. Copeland's directorial debut, Coffee Town, is due to open next month.

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