People Places Things
| People Places Things | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | James C. Strouse |
| Produced by |
Michael B. Clark Alex Turtletaub |
| Written by | James C. Strouse |
| Starring |
Jemaine Clement Regina Hall Jessica Williams Stephanie Allynne Michael Chernus |
| Music by | Mark Orton |
| Cinematography | Chris Teague |
| Edited by | Colleen Sharp |
Production company |
Beachside Films |
| Distributed by | The Film Arcade |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $67,046[1] |
People Places Things is a 2015 American comedy film written and directed by James C. Strouse. The film stars Jemaine Clement, Regina Hall, Jessica Williams, Stephanie Allynne and Michael Chernus. The film was released on August 14, 2015, by The Film Arcade.
Plot
The film begins with Will Henry (Jemaine Clement), a graphic novelist and art instructor, adjusting decorations for the birthday party of his five-year-old twin daughters, Clio (Aundrea Gadsby) and Colette (Gia Gadsby). As he searches for his longtime partner, Charlie (Stephanie Allynne), he ends up walking in on her and Gary (Michael Chernus), a monologist she's having an affair with. Charlie tells him that she's not happy with their relationship and is leaving him for Gary.
A year later, Will lives in a smaller house and sees his daughters on the weekend. Though he has a good relationship with the girls and wants to spend more time with them, Charlie has doubts that he would be able to handle all parental duties. Charlie also tells him that she is marrying Gary (despite being against marriage when she was with Will) and is having his child.
Meanwhile, one of Will's art students, Kat (Jessica Williams), asks him to dinner so that he can meet her single mother, Diane (Regina Hall). Though Will has reservations about meeting a woman in her 40s despite being 40 himself, he finds that Diane is attractive and likable, though she does not respect Kat's studies or, in turn, Will's career. Diane informs Will that she is already seeing someone, though Kat has tried to set her up with men before, and Will leaves after dinner.
One night, Charlie abruptly drops the girls off at Will's house and asks if he could take care of them full-time; their nanny has quit and she can't take care of them on her own. When Will hesitates, she reminds him that he asked to spend more time with them, and gives him various commands about their schedules. Though Will struggles on the first day, not having the groceries to feed them and not getting them to school on time, he improves the next day. However, a bomb threat cancels their school day, and needing a baby sitter while he teaches class, he promises money to Kat if she watches them. When he goes to pick them up after class, Diane admonishes him, telling him that it was wrong for him to pass his daughters off on Kat when the latter needs her education, and that it's not good for the girls to be bounced around between parents. The twins are worn out and are asleep, so Will is forced to spend the night at Kat's apartment. When getting blankets from Diane, Will notices that she is reading a book on graphic novels, and she tells him that she has gained a new respect for Kat's passion. Diane admits that she broke up with the man she was seeing and is interested in him; she and Will kiss and are about to have sex, but one of the twins comes looking for Will and he leaves to go keep the girls company. In the morning, in lieu of payment, Kat asks Will to read a graphic novel that she wrote, one that means a lot to her.
Will visits Charlie, who blames him for not letting her be who she wanted to be, and says that the twins are feeling confused because he is seeing someone else. Will retorts that it would have been confusing for their mother to have left them on their fifth birthday, and that he is not seeing Diane. However, Diane later invites Will over for sex; afterwards, she asks him what happened between him and Charlie, and he tells her that they were opposites who didn't work out in the end, though he also admits that she was generous and he didn't try hard enough in the relationship.
Charlie calls Will one night, telling him that there's an emergency; when he rushes over she tells him that the girls have locked themselves in the bathroom, saying that they want to live with him. Distressed, she tells him that Gary has been having doubts about the wedding, because he believes she's just jealous about Will's relationship with Diane. Confused, they both kiss. The twins come out of the bathroom and the parents take them to get ice cream, and Charlie promises Will that they'll talk about their relationship later, though it ends when they come back to find Gary waiting at her place with flowers. Later, Will tells Diane about his kiss with Charlie. She asks him if he still has feelings for Charlie, and he says that he doesn't know, and asks if the feelings ever go away. She says that they do someday but, hurt, breaks it off with him.
Will goes to meet Charlie and the twins in the park, clearly ready to patch up their relationship, but Charlie tells him that she and Gary worked through their problems and he is once again ready for marriage. A stunned Will asks if she told Gary about the kiss, but she had no plans to, and is confused as to why he told Diane. Furious, he leaves, and begins drawing revenge artwork against Gary. He stops to read Kat's graphic novel: titled "Mother Fuckers," it chronicles her mother's struggles with dating as a single mother as Diane becomes less and less enthused about dating as she becomes increasingly tired and heartbroken. Will finds Kat again, who is angry at him for hurting her mother, and gives him his own set of drawings to look at, drawings of him struggling with letting go of Charlie that he had been creating throughout the film. Later, she visits him at his home and gives him back his work, telling him that she could tell who it was about and that he needs to let Charlie go. She also flips to a panel he'd drawn of her mother and tells him that she showed it to Diane, and that Will should call her again and rekindle their relationship.
On the day of Charlie's wedding to Gary, Will attends but finds Charlie absent. Gary is trying to call her, and Will confronts him, punching him (after warning him) but also telling him that he knows Gary loves Charlie. Afterwards he goes and finds Charlie, who is afraid of making "another mistake," but he tells her that he never considered their relationship a mistake -- just something that worked until it didn't. They decide to remain friends, and Charlie marries Gary. Will leaves on his own with some stolen flowers from the wedding, presumably to go visit Diane.
Cast
- Jemaine Clement as Will Henry
- Regina Hall as Diane
- Jessica Williams as Kat
- Stephanie Allynne as Charlie
- Michael Chernus as Gary
- Aundrea Gadsby as Clio
- Gia Gadsby as Colette
Release
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2015.[2] On February 24, 2015, The Film Arcade acquired distribution rights to the film.[3] The film was released on August 14, 2015, by The Film Arcade.[4]
Reception
People Places Things received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 74%, based on 34 reviews, with a rating of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "People Places Things finds writer-director Jim Strouse in peak form -- and makes the most of talented stars who help breathe fresh life into familiar narrative territory."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[6]
References
- ↑ "People Places Things (2015)". Box Office Mojo. 2015-08-16. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
- ↑ Ben Kenigsberg (2015-01-26). "‘People, Places, Things’ Review: Jermaine Clement in Single-Dad Comedy". Variety. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
- ↑ Brent Lang (2015-02-24). "Sundance: Film Arcade Picks Up U.S. Rights to ‘People, Places, Things’". Variety. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
- ↑ Trumbore, Dave. "People Places Things Trailer: Jemaine Clement Gets Serious". Collider. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
- ↑ "People Places Things (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
- ↑ "People Places Things Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-08-15.