Last year marked Jay Duplass’s return behind the camera after a fourteen-year break. His latest movie, The Baltimorons, co-written with lead actor Michael Strassner, is the first feature the director embarks on alone, having previously worked on many of his projects alongside his brother, Mark Duplass. The film, based on Strassner’s lived experience, explores loneliness, melancholy, and hope in the form of a Rom Com-esque chance encounter that feels a little too fated to be random.
The movie opens with Cliff (Strassner himself) attempting suicide. Drunkenly grabbing a chair and struggling to remove his belt makes it obvious he hasn’t planned much. Least of all, he doesn’t plan on the belt breaking within seconds. From the floor, he mumbles a faint “really?”. A simple word that sets the tone for this movie: we’re going to explore heavy themes. However, it unfolds with an honesty and wit that prevent you from sinking into the gloominess of the subject matter.
Cliff is six months sober as of this Christmas Eve and headed to his fiancée, Brittany’s (Olivia Luccardi) family for the holidays. His friend Marvin (Rob Phoenix) repeatedly texts him about a comedy show he’s hosting that night, insisting on having him perform. Yet, Brittany isn’t too keen on letting him do that: in fact, she’s even made him promise not to drink or do comedy shows anymore. Though he seems slightly tempted, Cliff reassures her he’s not interested. But when he trips upon arriving at his in-laws’ house, he has to look for a medical professional working on Christmas Eve to attend his dental emergency.
The only dentist he finds is Liz Larsen’s Didi. She’s captivating, and Cliff can’t refrain from hitting on her, despite being engaged to the woman he cannot help but still refer to as his girlfriend. While in her chair, Cliff overhears Didi’s daughter calling her to tell her that her father—Didi’s ex-husband—got remarried the morning prior and is therefore having a reception that night. Yes, on Christmas Eve. So when they exit the building to realize Cliff’s car has been towed, a now plan-less Didi offers to drive him to the tow pound. Thenceforth begins a night that neither of them will forget.
One of the strongest suits of this movie is the vulnerable depiction of the act of finding joy in the mundane and the beauty of reconnecting to old dreams when newfound life has been breathed into them. Cliff’s mind keeps looping back to Marvin’s comedy show, but it isn’t until Didi takes an interest in his career that he realizes he does want to perform—something he’s been scared of doing since he got fired after fellow comic Kayden (a delightfully unpleasant Drew Limon) weaponized a critic of his humor as bullying.
Their chemistry is magnetic. Whether they’re performing improv at a comedy club—or rather, a pop-up—fishing or paying an impromptu visit to play a clever trick on Didi’s aggravating ex-husband Conway (Brian Mendes) and his new wife Patty (the ever enchanting Mary Catherine Garrison).
The Baltimorons, named after Cliff’s eponymous hometown sketch, offers a sweet, awkward, but genuine portrait of the mess that love can be while navigating sobriety, depression, and other baggage. While the film could easily fall into misguided pathos and does sometimes flirt with it, it succeeds in both exploring the shadows surrounding its characters and showing them that, together, their own light can illuminate their way out. All of this while remaining relatable and authentic.
This story feels raw, candid, and deeply tender, keeping us involved in these two’s budding romance and the struggles that get in the way. At the same time, that is partly thanks to some of the characters’ stories mirroring those of their performers, but it is mostly due to a witty and heartfelt screenplay that allows the cast to showcase their comedic strengths.
Unfortunately, Jordan Seigel’s beautiful piano-driven score of holiday hits brings a subtle cheeriness that occasionally feels a bit out of place, as if serving at times only one purpose: to remind us of the season. Still, the movie wraps itself up nicely and places itself as a new personal favorite Christmas movie.
Poignant, other times laugh-out-loud funny, The Baltimorons is a pleasant depiction of themes tricky to develop in comedy. Yet, it succeeds in making it an absolute feel-good movie. It’s upfront about its characters’ shortcomings, making them so endearing that it is pretty much impossible not to root for them.
It is no surprise that the movie won the SXSW Audience Award. Its approach to healing trauma in the quietest of ways serves as a lovely reminder that hope still exists for us all. That is, if we are open to connection and willing to accept the other person in all of their chaotic and imperfect glory.
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