I had nothing to do yesterday and was looking for a disposable '90s comedy--it was overcast and rainy and what else do you watch on such a day, excepting perhaps a Tarkovsky movie? The Pallbearer was the first I came across. I remember the commercial for it playing on the TV Guide channel back in the day. (From what I remember the TV Guide Channel seemed to exclusively advertise comedies and romcoms. I still vividly remember the voiceover guy announcing titles like "Fools Rush In", "The Truth About Cats & Dogs", and, of course, the immortal "Three to Tango". Two decades later, chock full of '90s nostalgia, I have this nagging feeling that I need to see all of them.)
Anyway. The Pallbearer doesn't quite fit the bill for exactly what I was looking for because it's not really a comedy so much as a light drama. David Schwimmer plays an architect who still lives with his mother (the always delightful Carol Kane) because he hasn't found a job since graduating college. The funeral for a high school colleague he doesn't even remember brings his high school crush (Gwyneth Paltrow) back into town. He tries to reconnect with her while hiding his sad unemployed life, his relationship with the dead man's mother (played with wonderful vulnerability by Barbara Hershey), and his friends' marital discord. Needless to say, before the movie is over all of these things will blow up in his face.
The movie does have some levity, but asI said, it's not really a comedy. Nor is it bleak and depressing. It's mainly a character study about a man who hasn't yet gotten his life together. Things aren't so bad, though, that you begin to view him as an object of pity. The Pallbearer is a well-meaning movie, where every character is flawed but ultimately likeable, and they all mean well, even if they make bad decisions in the moment. I suppose, in that sense, I would call it a feel-good movie, though in a low-key way. There's no swelling music; no tearful hugs while onlookers applaud; nobody shouts declarations of love amidst torrential rainfall. There are just small realizations, course corrections, steps taken forward. Everybody is doing the best they can, and as long as they can be honest and come through for each other, everything is going to work out all right.
Anyway. The Pallbearer doesn't quite fit the bill for exactly what I was looking for because it's not really a comedy so much as a light drama. David Schwimmer plays an architect who still lives with his mother (the always delightful Carol Kane) because he hasn't found a job since graduating college. The funeral for a high school colleague he doesn't even remember brings his high school crush (Gwyneth Paltrow) back into town. He tries to reconnect with her while hiding his sad unemployed life, his relationship with the dead man's mother (played with wonderful vulnerability by Barbara Hershey), and his friends' marital discord. Needless to say, before the movie is over all of these things will blow up in his face.
The movie does have some levity, but asI said, it's not really a comedy. Nor is it bleak and depressing. It's mainly a character study about a man who hasn't yet gotten his life together. Things aren't so bad, though, that you begin to view him as an object of pity. The Pallbearer is a well-meaning movie, where every character is flawed but ultimately likeable, and they all mean well, even if they make bad decisions in the moment. I suppose, in that sense, I would call it a feel-good movie, though in a low-key way. There's no swelling music; no tearful hugs while onlookers applaud; nobody shouts declarations of love amidst torrential rainfall. There are just small realizations, course corrections, steps taken forward. Everybody is doing the best they can, and as long as they can be honest and come through for each other, everything is going to work out all right.