If you’re smart, you’ll avoid visiting ‘Their Town’
One of the more talked-about entries at the recently concluded South by Southwest Film Festival was a teen version of “Before Sunrise” written, directed and starring members of the famed Duplass clan. Titled “Their Town,” a play on Thornton Wilder’s classic “Our Town,” it’s your basic walk-and-talk two-hander unfolding over one angst-filled evening on the near-empty streets of Bangor, Maine.
Little of note occurs during the movie’s compact 80 minutes, which would be OK if the two leads, played by middling newcomers Ora Duplass and Chosen Jacobs, weren’t so wooden and starved for chemistry. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, they most certainly are not. Nor are they and their respective problems dire in importance. There is, however, just enough of a spark to keep you mildly engaged for the first 50 minutes or so before contrivances and improbabilities let all the air out of an already deflated soufflé.
It’s also around this time that you realize what you’re witnessing is nothing more than the equivalent of a video introduction to a student seeking college admittance. In this case, the institute of higher learning is Hollywood, where the young Duplass is obviously seeking an apprenticeship with the assistance of her pops, Mark Duplass, who wrote the script, and mama, actress Katie Aselton, who directs her nepo baby.
Accordingly, Mom and Dad put their daughter in situations in which she can flaunt her range, from coy comedy to draconian drama. And to her credit, Ora mostly passes the test, despite the story’s dullness, which follows a familiar arc of a depressed teenager finding salvation in being seen and understood by a shy, handsome boy with deep-seated issues of his own.
The roteness of the situation might have been mitigated if the script hadn’t demanded that Ora’s Abby clumsily jump through hoops to facilitate a forced meet-cute. It begins awkwardly when she strikes up a conversation with Jacobs’ Matt, the stagehand, who, through a bizarre series of circumstances, has just been selected as her new leading man in the school play. Yes, it defies reason why the production’s fabulously gay director, Mr. Elliot (Jeffrey Self, massively over-the-top), would tap Matt, a kid with no interest or experience in acting. But that’s what Mark Duplass’ script deems, and you’re expected to go with it. But I digress.
Abby approaches Matt out of the blue and invites him to her house to run lines. But when they arrive, who should they find? None other than Tyler (William Atticus Parker), Abby’s former leading man, both on and off stage. He’s not happy, and neither is Abby’s swingin’ single mom, Janet (Kim Shaw), who wants her daughter to be a good girl and hook back up with the lying, cheating Tyler. What?
I know, it makes no sense. Neither do the next six or seven hours Abby and Matt spend wandering about town on a school night without parental restraints. Janet, you see, is busy hanging out at the bar with her abusive boyfriend and Matt’s dad (Daveed Diggs, Aselton’s “Magic Hour” co-star) is in Beijing with his long-distance lover, Wei (Leonardo Lam). Not plausible, but indicative of the film’s Charlie Brown vibe, in which parents are pretty much nonentities.
You roll your eyes even more when, by chance, Abby discovers that she and Matt are not strangers at all. They were in preschool together years and years ago and even declared their affection for each other as precocious 4-year-olds. Aww! Wouldn’t you think they’d remember such things? Apparently not. But wait, it gets even worse when – up until now – the seemingly well-adjusted Matt admits to having urges to harm himself. If that’s the case, then why did his dad run off to China, leaving his son unsupervised?
Oh, and did I mention that Tyler, out far past the bedtime of most Down Easters, shows up unexpectedly enraged over “his girl” holding hands with Matt on a park bench. And then getting violent? It’s a tonal mess that calls into question Aselton’s skills behind the camera. A concern intensified by an utterly unsatisfying conclusion that would try Job’s patience. As for the Duplasses, including Mark’s brother, Jay, co-producing, it’s their “Their Town,” and I, for one, say they can keep it.
Movie review
Their Town
Rated: Not yet rated
Cast: Ora Duplass, Chosen Jacobs, William Atticus Parker, Kim Shaw and Jeffrey Self
Director: Katie Aselton
Writer: Mark Duplass
Runtime: 80 minutes
Where: Premiered at the SXSW Film Festival
Grade: C
