Review: ‘Corporate Animals’ is an awesome ensemble comedy.

Lucy (Demi Moore) is the delusional CEO of a struggling startup aimed at millennials. In her infinite wisdom, Lucy leads her staff, including her long-suffering assistants Jess (Jessica Williams) and Freddie (Karan Soni), on a team building retreat in the caves of New Mexico led by an overeager guide (Ed Helms). When disaster strikes and the food runs out, mandatory office bonding becomes a lot more… appetizing.

Demi Moore plays a caricature of a “crunchy” CEO who takes her employees on a team-building excursion that goes awry. Trapped in a cave, already eccentric personalities are pushed to their limits. This script uses the “ripped from the headlines” and pop culture tactic to drive its tongue-in-cheek dialogue. It has a very Office feel to its co-worker chemistry dynamic. Demi Moore is authentically hilarious as an entitled phony nightmare. Ed Helms is never not funny. Jessica Williams and Karan Soni make an incredible team, SNL needs to take them both on immediately.  Each and every cast member has funny moment after funny moment. These are fully fleshed out characters which is a compliment to both the cast and the writer, Sam Bain.

Filmed almost entirely in the cave set, you can feel the claustrophobia of the cast. This is a “Lord of the Flies” daydream for anyone who hates their boss. The funniest moments revolve around hallucinations of all kinds. Corporate Animals doesn’t break any new ground but who cares. It’s still an undeniably fun time and a great comedic platform for both veteran and newcomer cast.

Screen Media will release the film in theaters and on demand September 20th.

Find out what movie made Adam Scott want to be an actor & other fun trivia from ‘The Overnight’ sneak preview and Q&A at Lincoln Center

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Film Society moderator, Judith Godrèche, Producer Naomi Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Adam Scott, Writer/Director Patrick Brice

Alex, Emily, and their son, RJ, have recently moved to Los Angeles’ Eastside from Seattle. Feeling lost in a new city, they are desperate to find their first new friends. After a chance meeting with Kurt at the neighborhood park, they gladly agree to join family pizza night at the home. But as it gets later and the kids go to bed, the family “playdate” becomes increasingly more revealing and bizarre as the couples begin to open up.

The Overnight posterThe Overnight was one of the first movies I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and it started off my viewing with a bang. The spirit of an indie and the laughs of a blockbuster, this comedy takes you on an unexpected journey of non-stop hilarity.

I attended the sneak preview of the film with a Q&A that followed with Writer/Director Patrick Brice, Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Producer Naomi Scott and Judith Godrèche. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Judith GodrècheJason Schwartzman hadn’t met prior to the first day on set
  • It was shot mostly at night in 12 days with no rehearsing in basically chronological order
  • Writer/Director Patrick Brice at one point deleted a 70 page draft and had to retype from memory.
  • Production Designer Theresa Guleserian drew all Kurt’s paintings in one day
  • Almost exclusively lit with practical light
  • Movie that made Adam Scott want to be an actor – Raiders of the Lost Ark  “That’s what I want to do.” Later, he makes note that the first audience that made an impression was War Games. “It was so exciting in the theater.”
  • Jason Schwartzman never really thought of himself as an actor because he thought actors were in big movies and were like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was more into music. “Cable always played the weirdest movies.” Dog Day Afternoon made him want to get into acting.
  • Patrick Brice also has a completely different type of movie, the horror, Creep, coming to VOD June 23rd and to Netflix July 14th.

My impressions of the Q&A:

  • Jason Schwartzman is just as adorable as you would imagine he is.
  • Adam Scott has an amazing voice that carries well and commands attention but is actually very soothing.
  • Judith Godrèche is incredibly sweet and must have been a pleasure to work with.
  • Patrick Brice will give us many more thought-provoking movies in the future.

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See the funniest movie of the summer – ‘The Overnight’ at a sneak peek with Q&A at Lincoln Center this Wednesday

Taylor Schilling (Emily) in a scene from THE OVERNIGHT. Photograph by John Guleserian

Taylor Schilling (Emily) in a scene from THE OVERNIGHT.
Photograph by John Guleserian

Q&A with director Patrick Brice, actors Adam Scott, Jason Schwartzman, Judith Godreche, and producer Naomi Scott

8pm – Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, New York, NY – Buy tickets here

Seattle transplants Alex and Emily (Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott and Orange Is the New Black’s Taylor Schilling) are settling into their new Los Angeles life with some difficulty (their young son makes friends more easily than they do). The two are overjoyed when outgoing fellow parent Kurt (Jason Schwartzman) invites them over for a dual playdate—one for the kids and one for the adults. Things take a turn for the bizarre when Kurt and his elegant French wife Charlotte (L’Auberge Espagnole’s Judith Godrèche) suggest putting the children to bed and continuing their couples date. The rare contemporary comedy that does not outstay its welcome, writer/director Patrick Brice’s second feature (after last year’s found-footage thriller Creep) capitalizes on Scott’s proven straight-man abilities and Schwartzman’s patented confidence, with art-house darling Godrèche more than holding her own amid seasoned comics. A The Orchard release.