Mascots

Christopher Guest mockumentaries are well renowned for being representative of middle America. Things like community theatre and dog shows are things that, though the majority of us may not be familiar with, exist in the real world. His first film in a decade however, focuses on a fictional mascot competition. While Mascots strives to recapture the glory of Best in Show, it ends up landing only a few of its ambitious jokes, while leaving others stranded by the wayside.

In the lead up to the World Mascot Association's Fluffy Awards, mascots travel from all over the globe to compete for the Gold Fluffy. There are Mike (Zach Woods) and Mindy Murray (Sarah Baker), a husband and wife mascot team for a small town baseball team, Cindi Babineaux (Parker Posey), whose character Alvin the Armadillo is a the mascot for a Mississippi university, Tommy Zucarello (Chris O'Dowd), a Canadian who considers himself the bad boy of mascotary with his character The Fist. There are many other mascots including Sid the Hedgehog from the UK. Meanwhile, judges Gabby Monkhouse (Jane Lynch) and A.J. Blumquist (Ed Begley Jr.) are squabbling over who used to be the better mascot and head of the WMA Langston Aubrey (Michael Hancock) is trying to square away a deal to televise the event with TV executive Upton French (John Michael Higgins).

As you can probably tell, one of the problems with Mascots is the sheer amount of characters. I didn't mention all of them, but they all get their own one on one interviews with the camera. It gets to the point where you can't remember the ins and outs of everyone's stories. In the past, Guest has focused on a core group of individuals and gotten testimonies from other characters in a non-interview style. Another thing I found disappointing was the shift in style. For want of a better word, Guest's films have always had a realist quality. Take, for example, the dog show in Best in Show. There was an actual dog show going on in the background with actual trainers and dogs that weren't characters in the show. But here, the background mascots aren't entirely convincing. Another part of the realist style is the way the films were shot. They seemed like they were low-grade and hastily put together, the sort of thing you'd expect from an amateur documentarian. Mascots is too shiny and polished. The sets look like sets, rather than the location shooting you'd expect. Finally, there are a few jokes that are there, but missed out on. Zach Woods' Mike has a history of infidelity that doesn't suit his skinny body and that could have been explored so much more. Bob Balaban (who plays the owner of Mike and Mindy's baseball team) has a lot of sexual weirdness that is set up for nothing.

But these types of movies boil down to the performances. Long form improvisation is tough, but all these comedians are awesome at it. Although I think it would have benefitted from having veterans Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy, the other older cast members who are at play are pretty awesome. Chief among them is John Michael Higgins, who doesn't get too much screen time, but what he does with it is magical. His impassioned monologue about his career trajectory is weird and wonderful. Michael Hitchcock is amazing at awkwardly explaining his way through the phenomenon that is furries (a joke that I felt never hit its mark in the movie). Newer inclusions to the team are pretty amazing too. Zach Woods has always been a hilarious improv actor and he provided some of my favourite parts of the film. Chris O'Dowd was a wonderful inclusion to the film, although I felt his ending was a little off. There is also a stunt at the end of the film which I felt was pulled off expertly, and while it didn't make me laugh, I was definitely amazed at the theatrics of it.

Mascots tries too hard at making the mascot competition the joke. I feel like more time should have gone into focusing on the characters and giving more realism to the film. I did feel removed from the entire event and that's the opposite of how you want to feel with this movies. You're supposed to identify with these characters, but that was just too hard.

Love & Friendship

With an unexpected amount of satire and snark, Whit Stillman's Love & Friendship impresses audiences with a fresh take on some classic Jane Austen literature (no zombies needed for this one). Love & Friendship is a romantic comedy disguised as a pre-Victorian drama, with the structure and atmosphere of the movie mirroring that of a theatre play. Mixing quick witted dialogue with old-timey English speech in a game of sociopolitical chess creates an enjoyable and unique cinema experience for all viewers of this movie.

In the late 18th century, flirtatious widow Lady Susan (Kate Beckinsale) finds herself in a social trough following the death of her husband. In a calm struggle for power, she looks to win the heart of young bachelor Reginald De Courcy (Xavier Samuel), while at the same time solidifying control over her highly contested daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark). With the powers of various highborn families of England at play, Love & Friendship displays a layered sociopolitical conflict hidden calmly under the guise of one-upmanship in seemingly respectful and proper public affairs, with comedic value often found in these displays throughout the film.

Kate Beckinsale is the clear star of the show, with her portrayal of Lady Susan being both elegant and proper as a woman of stature, as well snappy and sharp-witted as a social player. Beckinsale proves both her flexibility and experience as an actress and creates a strong base performance for the rest of the cast to build off. While some background characters aren't entirely as convincing, the supporting cast does well to build off Beckinsale's lead and impress across the board. Notable performances come from  Chloë Savigny as Lady Susan's amiable yet equally manipulative American friend Alicia Johnson, as well as a surprisingly enjoyable showing from Tom Bennett, who plays an incompetent and socially inept bachelor. While the performances are solid, the real praise should go to the screenplay of Whit Stillman, for creating a Mean Girls-esque vibe of snappiness and banter that we can only hope really existed in these historical times.

As aforementioned, Love & Friendship views somewhat as a theatre play, with character introductions, title cards and musical transitions. The actual scenes of the film are void of any musical score, with authentic classical pieces only accompanying these transitions between different scenes or locations. The simple editing, both musical and otherwise, create a genuine feel to the film, with believable costumes and location adding to this feeling. In all aspects, the movie feels like a bona fide classical English story, while also managing to incorporate the wit and dynamism of modern day.

While at first glimpse Love & Friendship may seem like a standard and possibly boring classical English movie, in practice it is anything but. Combining romance with wit and comedy in a historical setting results in this film feeling both authentic and accurate as well as strangely familiar and modern, and audiences can expect to come out of a viewing with a pleasant feeling of satisfaction, whether they are a fan of the historical genre or not.