Sundance 2017 – Landline

Landline is director Gillian Robespierre follow-up to her 2014 sleeper hit, Obvious Child, a film that I absolutely loved and one that put star Jenny Slate on the must-watch list.  You can tell both Robespierre and Slate have both grown as artists in the last couple years, as Landline is a bigger, cleaner, breezy, wonderfully acted family comedy.

Landline looks at the flaws and insecurities of one family in the mid-90’s.  Dana (Jenny Slate) is recently engaged to Ben (Jay Duplass), but everything isn’t as great as it seems.  Her sister, Ali (Abby Quinn), is a teenager trying to find her place in life.  And their parents, Alan (John Turturro) and Pat (Edie Falco) are struggling with their marriage alive.

The cast is spectacular, as you can tell by the names.  Slate plays a hot mess better than anyone, yet Dana has a quirky optimism that is hard to not love.  Duplass shows he is not the only Duplass brother who can act, as the sympathetic fiancé.  Quinn is the best of the bunch, as a troubled teen who is into experimenting with drugs, sex, and rebelling against her parents who don’t understand her angst.  And Falco and Turturro have some really powerful scenes as a married couple with two different parenting styles who are trying to keep the last bit of flame left in their marriage.  It is this cast that really makes this movie soar.

The 90’s aspect of the film is awesome.  Featuring classic fashion trends, lingo, and music, you are thrown into this era and it really adds to the movies look at relationships.  There is no Facebook, or Twitter, or Tinder.  These people have to communicate through landline phones and use pay phones, making the struggles that they have greater.  The movie also does look at a struggling marriage on a lighter note.  Divorce is not the ultimate evil and won’t dismantle the family, which is the main message of the movie.  No matter what struggles or problems you have, a family will always have your back and will always be there for you.

Landline is a cool, hilarious, easy-going 90’s throwback about relationships and family.  With it’s outstanding cast and great writing, Robespierre proves she is an up and coming director to keep an eye on.

MY RATING – 3/4

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