PARK CITY – After three feature screenplays including the semi-underrated “Lola Versus,” Zoe Lister-Jones has finally jumped in the director’s chair with “Band Aid.” The often funny and often slightly serious dramedy debuted at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival this past week and while it might not be a complete smash it proves Hollywood studios should give Lister-Jones serious consideration when broadening their search for new filmmakers. Oh, and there’s Fred Armisen too, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
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Not only did Lister-Jones write and direct “Band Aid,” but she also stars as Anna, one half of an L.A. couple that realize they are in a breaking point in their relationship (Not only do they argue like an old, unhappily married couple, but they do so often and it’s a testament to Lister-Jones’ skills that their bickering doesn’t immediately become grating). It doesn’t help that each of them are in a rut in their careers. Anna’s boyfriend Ben (Adam Palley) is an artist who spends most of his days designing corporate logos and Anna’s been forced to uber after a book deal went south. There is an underlying loss that’s hinted at initially that’s at the root of their frustrations but Lister-Jones doesn’t go there too early, she wants to make you laugh a bit first.
While attending a birthday party for one of their friends young kids, Anna is inspired after she and Ben fool around with some of the kid’s musical instruments: why don’t they sing out their frustrations in songs instead of yelling at each other? They pull their electric guitars out of the dustbin and start writing indie pop songs whose lyrics are the exact, harsh lines they would say to each other if they were arguing and not singing (songs are credited to Lister-Jones and Kyle Forester). They even get semi-serious about it and recruit their neighbor, Dave (Armisen), to play drums. And for a while it works. They play some local gigs. They even hear there is interest from a record executive. They begin to believe in the band so much they start to forget the core problem that caused them to argue in the first place. And that’s where the movie sort of takes a turn.
Most viewers will figure out what caused their discord quickly, but eventually Anna’s frustration and anger over this loss comes to a head and the, um, band aid of their musical collaboration comes off. From a performance perspective Lister-Jones is superb here, but it’s a bit of a jolt compared to the sometimes goofy and witty humor that dominates the majority of the first half of the picture. You have to credit both actors – they make you believe the couple’s pain – but from a filmmaking perspective Lister-Jones might have been better served by pulling back the reigns a bit.
Considering how much screen time they share together, Lister-Jones and Pally need to have fantastic chemistry to keep the audience rooting for Anna and Ben and, luckily, they have more than enough. You believe Anna and Ben are destined to ride it out long term because the relationship never feels forced. When they aren’t arguing they are laughing with each other and have a wonderful repartee that might not work in the hands of two other actors. You simply never get tired of them together.
The film has some nice cameos here and there (Colin Hanks, Brooklyn Decker, Chris D’Elia), but Armisen practically steals the movie. The “SNL” and “Portlandia” fixture has had small roles before (mostly cameos), but this is the first real supporting role to take advantage of his talents. It helps that Lister-Jones has made Dave comically eccentric. Dave is a recovering sex addict that is prone to dress in all leather and the defacto “sponsor” to two gorgeous women who are also in his program (Jamie Chung and Erinn Hayes, both game). The fact he thinks both women are unattractive while they fawn all over him (he thinks of them as his “best friends”) is a recurring bit that never gets old. Dave could have come off creepy, but Lister-Jones and Armisen make him so endearing you wish he had a bigger part in the movie.
It should also be noted that like fellow Sundance titles “Ingrid Goes West” and “LA Times,” “Band Aid” is a look at another slice of contemporary Caucasian adult life in Los Angeles that has been somehow lost in the numerous cable and streaming series that make up Peak TV. That’s both a good and a bad thing (“Band Aid” has significantly more diversity than one of those titles), but in this post-Mumblecore era it’s a voice that’s worth listening too, even if it’s a little uneven here and there, right? [B]
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