Brigsby Bear (dir. Dave McCary)

If you haven’t guessed from the title of Dave McCary debut feature-length film Brigsby Bear that it blossomed as a favorite at the most recent Sundance Film festival, perhaps you should learn a little bit more about this quirky comedy. Blending themes seen in films like Son of Rambow and Lenny Abrahamson's Room, here’s a film about one mans desire to never give up on his ideals, even if they have been pumped into you by a 7 foot teddy bear.

In modern day Utah, a 20-something man named James (Kyle Mooney) sits patiently in his room starring intently up at his television screen. He's recanting the dialogue verbatim from a children’s tv show Brigsby Bear Adventures about a colorful bear that fights crime across the universe. . To the audience, this appears to be nothing more than the usual stoner-boy behavior, something you would expect from the people behind Popstar: Never Stop Stopping (Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Akiva Schaffer) until local police arrive and escort James parents off the premises. It soon transpired that James was kidnapped by his assumed parents Mark & April (Mark Hamill, Jane Adams) ,and forced to watch the same tv show as a way of learning and understanding the vicissitudes of modern life.

Thrust back into life with his biological parents Greg and Louise (Tony Hale and Michaela Watkins), he begins his life again at the age of 26, unaware of the trials and tribulations of modern society. Though he can read and write, his mentality has been warped to the extent that his only frames of reference blend between the childlike or those of the television show Brigsby Bear, to the downright mentally ill. When he is informed that the television show was fabricated by Hamill and his wife, filmed in a warehouse nearby, he doesn’t compute the differences between the real and the fictional.

The film attempts to counter-balance the sympathies of its main character with a certain amount of success. Lead Kyle Mooney (SNL alumnus) with whom the films story was created by, brings a streak of Napoleon Dynamite to the role, as his quirky and juvenile appearance is charming and sporadicly funny during the broader moments. Also, there is some enjoyment in watching James acclimate himself back to civilized society, but his obsession with the show becomes a little too un-engaging, and as he makes friends with a local group of teenagers and tries to make a film based on the show he so adores, you will slowly notice your patience beginning to whine down as those around him indulge his fantasies and the sentimentality with which the director approaches the optimism on screen can be challenging.

Supporting roles for for the always watchable Claire Danes, as the court appointed psychologist Emily, bring a level of sympathy and reality to the picture. Her job of unravelling the dangers behind James' unhealthy urge to equate life’s hurdles with that of a fictional bear, and her attempts to bring him back to reality in therapy sessions are earnest and poignantly done. Greg Kinnear also appears briefly as Detective Vogel handling the case; always a charming screen presence - and suited perfectly for the hero role - his subplot involving a return to a repressed acting career feels a little too contrived.

As far as Saturday Night Live inspired comedies are concerned, it’s far above those much more egregiously unfunny counterparts. Though McCary film isn’t interested in dealing with the deep subject matter which would clearly be touched upon with a man confined to a life such as this for 26 years: the main problems with the film are the disparaging tones; some sequences are so broadly presented you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Rating 2/5.

Though this sundance hit has its heart in the right place, and I’m excited I see where the director future work, a more candid approach to the dark subject matter wouldn’t have better suited the satirical edge.