Humor Me

If this movie was a dinner plate, I'd throw it against the wall and watch it smash into a million small pieces. This is a disgusting attempt at a movie, it feels like a vanity project for some rich kosher pretenders. It also panders very hard at the start, I could barely stomach 10 minutes. They forced Jermaine Clement to fake an American accent, ugh! WHY!? I love understated movies, I love JC, but this movie is so awful... some movie makers are far too rich and comfortable, they completely lose touch with the real world - I can't see many people enjoying this, it's utter garbage, it's a mistake, or business venture that went wrong, or a tax write-off.

What a great film this is. Full of really silly jokes, magnificent acting. Not a CGI special effect in sight. It has a quiet gentle pace that has real 'laugh out loud' moments. It says a lot about Hollywood when they promote garbage then slip this one out with so much as a advertisement. It's a great film, full of warmth, humour, family values and a really unique story behind it. I thought 'The Mikado' scene was priceless and I loved the way Father and Son found how similar they truly were (not to give anything away). It's a masterpiece of acting and story telling, go see it, it will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

You can't really go wrong with this movie if you like Jemaine Clement. I like everything he's ever been in and after watching Humor Me it remains the same. He lost his kiwi accent for this movie though, don't know why he did that, don't really get it either. If you're from New-Zealand you have an accent and that makes your charm. That said he should just speak like he always does. Humor Me is full of subtle jokes, Jemaine Clement's facial expressions, it all brought a smile on my face for the entire movie, what else could I ask for when watching a comedy? Easy and entertaining story, good acting, a recipe for a good evening of cinema.

This appeared as if it was all based on an improvised script where old, out of work actors gave their time for free and a chance to get on the screen one more time. There is little to recommend it.

Watchable, if you like Jemaine Clement. Even if it's one of his more uncommonly sensible characters, much like his role in People Places Things (2015). A drama-free lighthearted little movie.

The overwhelming sense I got while watching this movie was that I was observing real people and not actors. The ensemble cast really clicks in their actions with one another, and even though Elliott Gould's celebrity intrudes every now and then, even he looked like he belonged with this often times dysfunctional group of characters. The principal dynamic in the story involves Nate Kroll's (Jemaine Clement) relationship with his father (Gould), and how Nate stumbles through the tail end of his four year writer's block and a recently failed marriage. For his part, Bob Kroll relies on a consistent stream of never ending jokes to lighten the burden of his wife's passing, along with a heart condition that turns frighteningly real, eventually leading to a favorable reconciliation with his older son. I found it kind of interesting that the rental locker that Bob used to store his early family mementos was numbered '808', because if you spotted it quickly, it looked like that was spelling out his name in capitals. Just another little quirk among all the other quirks Nate encountered on his little side trip to the Cranberry Bog retirement community. It's not unusual for me to come across a movie I never heard of before, and was kind of shocked to read on this site that the film only grossed around forty grand when it was released. Granted it's not an awards contender by any means, but I do think it deserves a wider audience, especially among IMDb viewers who might nudge it's rating up a notch. Maybe a little word of mouth could move it in the right direction, as Nate Kroll's words would have suggested when he remarked to his departing wife, "Quality work takes time".

Jermaine Clements is such a clever comedian and seeing him with Elliot Gould just shows this even mire. He certainly held his own with one if the greats. Annie Potts once again shows her talent. I loved this movie.

This movie is a lovely tale about a man who finds new meaning at a low point in his life when he's forced to move in with his widowed father, who now lives in a retirement community. The casting is fantastic, it's full of "dad" jokes which people will either love or hate, and it has a lot of heart.