A professional stand-up comedian gets up on stage for the audience there to entertain them. But the question arises, what happens in case a joke is cracked by a comedian? It is an interesting and intricate concern that grows in the course of the emotional journey that Ally Pankiw’s feature debut “I Used to Be Funny” narrates.
Sam (Rachel Sennot) is in some deep sorrow when she is first encountered in the movie. She does not have the will to get into the shower. She has secluded herself away from her local comedy club, as well as her buddies. Because of her current state, her roommates, who are deeply concerned for her, ended up paying her rent. A drizzle of flashbacks and passing conversations lay the groundwork for the reason why she got to the state. For an ailing mother were, have a young teenager to care for, truly troubled. Her aunt, Jill is able to provide assistance only when her father, Cameron is not busy working. So, Sam arrives in order to tend to Brook (Olga Petsa) who is in a horrible place. For some time during her life, she was a teenager’s au pair. A supporting, almost older sister figure. However, this is a thing of the past. There was never a time when she stepped on stage to tell a joke, but she sure won a lot of laughs.
Sam’s story is at its most rooted and humane when it depicts her narrative oscillating between her emotional withering and her sparsely caring, funny self. And for that, this very woman Pankiw wrote and directed the film.
Pankiw is deliberate with how she unveils the backstory of the film’s characters. She doles out just the perfect amount of information required to keep the audience engaged with the plot of the film. In the fragmented timelines of Pankiw, Sam, and Brooke are shown to become more intimate with one another and then grow distant, which further explains the importance of each and every one of their interactions with one another. Their moments have the most significance in “I Used to Be Funny,” thus the discrepancy in the way they interacted before and after a certain event when there was no spoken verbal engagement amplifies how much they shared as friends.
Besides officially portraying the life of a babysitter/stand-up comic and the tumultuous child she is looking after, Pankiw’s film tackles unsettling issues. The movie essentially unravels a deeper discussion on the impact trauma has on one’s creativity and relationships. Because this trauma pervades every area of Sam’s existence, its repercussions are both apparent and obscure. The violence that she goes through has a negative impact on her close friends and family and this link to them and the family they create becomes destructive. She makes the case of Sam’s controversy into a social joke and the aftermath of it in court during the discussions brought on by #metoo.
Sam, while attempting to retake her narrative, has to be wary because if she does not, she runs the risk of losing the simplistic nature of her comedic side as well as the relationships that are of great importance to her.
In order for Sam’s arc to feel real, Sennott essentially has to take up two roles one from before the event and another from after it. She takes on being a teenager in one half of the film and does not hold herself back in any way to deliver sexual comedy or get into debates regarding whether Team Jacob or Edward is better since all she wants to do is get the teenager to smile. However, in the other half of the movie, she seems to be overwhelmed and in a very different tone compared to the other half her head is hunched keeping her shoulders in, and the sparse flashes of a vibrant side to her echo its ghosts around the apartment. But while appearing in ‘Shiva Baby’, ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’, and ‘Bottoms’, Sennott displayed her fun side, saint is capable of her class A actor’s data.
Telling us about their individual lives, the memorable comedians who pull at our sensitive spots to generate entertaining stand-up. For most of us, once in a therapy session, we throw an emotional tantrum and try to get to the end of a moving vague mushy tale to reveal a reputable punch, but they save it evidence-based from trauma to the other end of a comic effect.
“I Used to Be Funny” explores relationships and issues of consent while creating a plot for Sam to uncover, prompting Pankiw and Sennott’s forming of a mystery for him to unravel. Although inventively, Pankiw and Sennott provide a gentle personal depiction of a character coping with life’s vicissitudes and trying to depict a stronger but funnier version of the character.
For More Movies Like – I Used to Be Funny (2023) – Visit 123Movies