BFFs

 

THE NOWHERE INN (B) - Rock stars Carrie Brownstein (Sleater Kinney) and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) have a winning rapport in this meta-mockumentary about Clark's pop-star status and the cult of celebrity. This feels more like a series of vignettes -- not unlike an episode of "Portlandia," which Brownstein starred on and Clark guested on -- than a coherent movie. It seems trapped between the worlds of a Christopher Guest romp and a David Lynch freakout.

The gimmick here -- wink-wink -- is that Brownstein is making a documentary about the St. Vincent tour, with full backstage access to her real-life pal Clark. When it turns out that Clark mainly likes to play Scrabble after a show and not, say, stage a rave in her tour bus, Brownstein mildly suggests that Clark spruce things up a bit and play rock star for the camera. Clark takes this suggestion to the extreme -- including randomly bringing in actress Dakota Johnson for a sex scene -- and proceeds to dive headfirst into a vortex of excessive behavior and identity crisis. 

Of course, this is all staged for this cinematic exercise. While Brownstein and Clark wrote it, it is directed, a bit flatly, by TV journeyman Bill Benz. Clark has a lot of charisma, and both she and Brownstein immerse themselves in the charade, but this loses steam in the final third. The team seems to not have the gumption or the talent to make a truly bold statement like Lynch did in "Mulholland Drive." Instead, it takes a more shallow approach to the idea of identity and pop-culture consumerism. Plus, the music of mid-career St. Vincent is pretty generic. But overall, this is funny and even provocative at times, a diverting passion project that pops on the screen.

TOGETHER TOGETHER (B-minus) - You want to like this friendship film about a 45-year-old man hiring a 26-year-old woman to have his baby and then luring her to be his buddy. Ed Helms is a bit overly mannered as glum Matt, and Patti Harrison is charming but also oddly understated as unhappy Anna. Both are damaged -- Matt just hasn't figured out how to have a successful relationship, and Anna, who gave up a baby for adoption while in high school has long been estranged from her family.

Writer-director Nikole Beckwith has penned a really smart script, and she gets a lot of the little things right about the banter between Gen Xer Matt and Millennial Anna. There are more smiles than laughs (the latter courtesy of Julio Torres as Anna's deadpan co-worker), though there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that this whole exercise just seems hollow. Yes, it's a curious choice for Matt to have a baby on his own, and you wonder why Anna would put herself through this again. And you might wonder why she doesn't just tell Matt to keep his distance; he's pretty much a droll loser, and his friendship doesn't seem particularly valuable.

In the end, this ends up feeling like a series of acting exercises -- all well executed by two appealing actors, but not really adding up to a complete story. It galumphs along, and if all you need is a minor-key dual character study, you will be satisfied; if you're looking for a deeper meaning or an interesting twist, you'll likely leave disappointed.