I want Someone to Eat Cheese (2007)
Directed by Jeff Garlin
Written by Jeff Garlin
Starring Jeff Garlin, Sarah Silverman, Bonnie Hunt, Mina Kolb
Release Date September 5th, 2007
Published September 25th, 2007
If Hollywood won't cast you as the lead in a movie, make your own. That is what comedian and Curb Your Enthusiasm cast Jeff Garlin has done. I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With is Garlin gathering his friends, mostly from Chicago's Second City Comedy troupe, and making a movie that he can star in. Garlin produced, wrote the screenplay and directed I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With and it has the breezy, good natured tone of friends getting together to chat and make each other laugh. If the film occasionally strains for the laughs or goes just slightly over the top, it's okay because we like these characters and we especially like Garlin.
James (Garlin) has 3 very distinct problems. First is his weight, when we meet him he is outside a convenience store gorging on junk food and milk. Later he sneaks out of an overeaters anonymous meeting to go for ice cream. Next is the fact that at 39 he still lives with his mother (Mina Kolb). And lastly is his career where opportunities are beginning to dry up. Refusing to leave Chicago for Los Angeles, where there are far more jobs for a working actor, James is biding his time with the Second City Improv troupe as he awaits another opportunity.
James feels however that these problems would mean a whole lot less if he just had someone to eat cheese with, a cute metaphor invented by Beth (Sarah Silverman) as she and James observe a couple in the park sharing wine and cheese. James thinks that maybe he could share some cheese with Beth but she's a little crazy. When they meet she immediately frightens him with blunt sex talk. Later she invites him along as she shops for underwear. Is she toying with him or does she have real interest in him? We really can't tell. Then there is Stella (Bonnie Hunt) a school teacher who James runs into repeatedly and despite obvious chemistry, James fails to recognize the real possibilities with her.
The film sets up two distinct options for James and though one seems obviously right and the other obviously wrong, we are ok with James' mistake. It's a natural, human mistake and we have faith it will be corrected by the end of the film's very brief 80 minute runtime. Garlin's skill is not great romantic comedy but rather finding comedy in the everyday, mundane actions of the lives of these characters. The conversations, the rhythms of the everyday are organic and familiar in a friendly way. Especially funny are the conversations between James and his best friend Luca, played by David Pasquesi. Garlin and Pasquesi have been friends for years, from their time in Second City, and the natural rhythm of their conversations definitely shows.
There are awkward moments. Amy Sedaris has a cameo as a school guidance counselor that feels a little under-rehearsed. Also Sarah Silverman at times pushes past just being a little shocking and into off-putting territory. Again, a little bit too much improv likely leads to a little too much freedom and Silverman goes over the top. I still believed the character, because I know a number of shocking and slightly nuts gals, Silverman just takes it a little too far in one or two scenes. On the other hand, I did love Garlin's reaction to these awkward moments. His discomfort with her open sexuality is very sweet. Rarely do we get characters who don't just resist being a lech but really try to avoid the impression of a lecherous thought.
Charming, easygoing, with some really big laughs and a number of minor chuckles, I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With is a real delight.
