Customer Reviews

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This movie starts off slow and you think it might get better but it never does it felt like the movie just suck the life out of me. Comedy it is NOT you end up feeling sorry and depressed after the movie. If you want to feel sorry and depressed this is your movie.

Any movie that offers Bonnie Hunt, Sarah Silverman and Amy Sedaris in the supporting cast has to be well worth watching, and comic actor Jeff Garlin takes advantage of the terrific talent he recruited for his 2007 directorial debut, a sad-sack comedy about an overweight man who feels out of step with the world around him. Familiar as Larry David's manager Jeff on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Garlin plays James, a still-struggling, 39-year old Chicago actor who lives with his widowed mother. His self-esteem is so low that he can't meet women, but he's a likable guy and it's the comical way he views his single status that makes his dilemma involving. If the storyline sounds a bit familiar, that's because the film is partially a tribute to the 1955 Ernest Borgnine classic, Marty, about a lonely Bronx butcher living with his meddlesome mother. In fact, Garlin uses Marty as the play which James is desperate to do since he is so empathetic to the character's situation.

Naturally there is a love story of sorts in this new millennium version, and Silverman plays Beth, an off-kilter, sexually voracious ice cream parlor server who takes him on an underwear shopping spree. Their best scene together is in his favorite convenience store where they improvise different characters in different aisles. Hunt plays a lonely elementary school teacher who shares a passion with James for jazz saxophonist Ben Webster. They meet accidentally in a record store and then again at a career day at her school where he hilariously exposes his sexual neuroses in front of a classroom of first-graders, including his best friend Luca's pert daughter Penelope (played by Dakota Fanning's look-alike baby sister Elle). In a wedged-in cameo and looking quite a bit like Jerri Blank, Sedaris plays the school's counselor who speaks to James after his inappropriate monologue. David Pasquesi plays Luca, a retirement home manager, and his scenes with Garlin have an easy rapport that makes their friendship easy to believe. Almost stealing the movie is character actress Mina Kolb, who plays James' pixilated mother with pluck and heart.

There are also unexpected cameos from teen idol Aaron Carter and Gina Gershon (don't ask...but the set-up is funny), as well as sharply played bits by director Paul Mazursky as the snaky director of a candid-camera-type show, "Smear Job"; Tim Kazurinsky as the unsuspecting victim of that show; Roger Bart as the play's ignorant casting director; and Dan Castellaneta as the tough-love convenience store owner. With his rueful bouts of insecurity and self-loathing, Garlin's comic sensibilities resemble those of Albert Brooks, and the casual dialogue at its best reminds me of Modern Romance and Defending Your Life. The one persistent problem I had with the film is pacing as some scenes dragged out longer than necessary. The problem is more evident in the first half when Garlin is trying to establish the right tempo, and the lack of real conflict adds to the sluggishness. Regardless, what he does well is capture that gnawing sense of desperation one feels upon the revelation that life is not what it is supposed to be, that a significant other may be out of reach, and that a steady diet of junk food eaten on a car hood is the only sure thing when it comes to gratification.

I like the cast of this film and thought I would love the movie. 4 of us were watching this and about 20 minutes in someone spoke up and we all agreed that it was terrible and turned it off.

An indie film that feels more like Sienfeld the movie. The main character Jeff Garlin plays an overweight comic who's life is on a slippery slope down. The movie takes place in Chicago, but feels more like its cameo city. There are a few laugh out loud moments from quirky characters, but no one really sticks around from beginning to end. Like a day in the life of a comic, he gets dumped, meets a slew of crazy characters, gets fired, and so on. Not much really to say about the movie, there's no real plot. This is more like a vehicle for Jeff Garlin to get more work, because he shows off accents, improv and other things (but not tap dancing).

This is supposedly a finding romance comedy and he never really finds romance so much as it finds him. It never felt like he was actually looking for love, instead they were just more quirky characters that made brief appearances or cameos.

Most of the time its just 2 people talking with no real action. Either talking and walking or just flat out talking. Good thing they take a walk through so many city streets. The movie never really feels like Chicago. There is only 1 scene from a famous location and when they play up Chicago so much, it would have been nice to see more of it.

I love Sarah Silvermans comedy, but I am not about to rate this any higher then two just because she is in this. It's a dull and boring story of a fat guy who loses his girlfriend and realizes he just wants love. All while he has boring conversations with his mother, his friend and whatnot. He is a struggling actor and loses his job... along the way he meets a pretty girl in an ice cream shop who sleeps with him and and another woman who likes some album he liked.

Thats the whole damn plot... it sounds as boring as it really is. I think I laughed, or should say, kinda lightly chuckles maybe 2 or 3 times during the whole movie. And the ending of the whole thing is just terrible. It's a movie that is aiming at some kind of "comedians showing they have a heart" but fails to bring somewhat of an interesting story to this drawn out snore fest of nothingness.

I am always amazed at how well good dialogue can carry an otherwise familiar theme in a film. 'I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With' is just such a movie. The film is about an overweight man who wants to find his soul mate. He comes across several quirky characters and it is his encounters and the witty dialogue that keep this film rolling along. It's an amusing and sweet tale, but it does seem to end rather abruptly and may not fully satisfy every viewer. I kind of liked it for being different.

I too have to agree with the reviewer who points out how cute Sarah Silverman is (admittedly a strong point that lead me to get the movie) - - in addition, how similar Jeff Garlin looks to George Wendt (not a factor in renting the movie... However, his acting in CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM was.) Ergo... I got the film...

Although not well directed, the movie does have that Larry David/CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM style of quirky observational humor... and the film has a charm... All in all, a nice film to watch one time, though not sure I'd want to see it over and over - - My guess is that had Garlin stuck to writing and acting and the script and cast were virtually the same, but a Christopher Guest or Woody Allenesque director were pulled in, it really would have worked...

As for the story, its about an aspiring actor/compulsive overeater who at age 39 still live with his mother...
His life is falling apart, until he meets Beth (Silverman's character)... a cheerfully yet somewhat mentally ill/sexually uninhibited chubby chaser who work's at her sister's ice cream parlor. The film unfolds at its own pace, but is held together by Garlin, Silverman and company... (Most interestingly, Garlin pretty much plays a character similar to the one in CURB, and Silverman is definitely herself, so fans of both will enjoy, though sometimes its a bit awkward.)

In conclusion... quite a few laugh out loud scenes, but don't expect to be blown away...

Includes a cameo by Amy Sedaris as well as many other recognizable faces.

I can't imagine why anyone would say anything positive about this self-indulgent drivel by Jeff Garlin. Not at all funny, it is incomprehensible how he was able to get so many talented performers to completely waste their talents on this terrible film. Contrary to the review quotes on the DVD cover, this film was the complete opposite of "hilarious" and "sweet." This is the story of a fat, unattractive man who whines through life and makes poor choices. None of his various encounters are at all humorous - just boring. I am just annoyed that I was tricked by reviewer comments into thinking that somehow the film was going to get better or redeem itself at the end, which never happened.

Or like the French (and some ugly Americans like me) say, "Qui couper le frommage?"

OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'll admit I enjoyed "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With."

"Cheese" communicates in a very innocent, direct and quirky method, that is entirely endearing. Its difficult not to develop some affection for Jeff Garlin. This movie is essentially a "stream of experience" about Jeff's life as an nice, aimless, affable, funny, fat jewish guy.

Sarah Silverman delivers a performance that could (or will) be right out of "The Sarah Silverman Program." Bonnie Hunt is wonderful as the school teacher, and Dan Castellaneta is great as the store owner.

I'm going to watch it again to make sure I don't miss any of the great humor, like when the homeless guy refuses to wear the pirate costume saying, "I'm a homeless guy. All I have left is my dignity."

This would have been five stars, but as the movie begins to build toward what I thought might be the most important scenes, it suddenly ends. Perhaps demonstrating my interest in the film, I felt ripped-off, like someone had just deleted a huge chunk somewhere in the second half of the DVD. The last scene, which was supposed to be very meaningful, was probably set up by the missing material, so it just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Its as if the producer of the movie, like Jeff Garlin's character, full of talented self-doubt, got off to a great start but suddenly loses his nerve just before closing the deal with the audience.

Still, you can't discount the good intentions and honesty of this little film. Basically, Jeff is someone I'd like to meet, I think he'd be a lot of fun.

Oh well. I'd be inclined to try a Jeff Garlin production again, hoping for some of the same quirky honesty.

When the movie ended I asked myself "Who wrote this and how did they ever get the financing to make it?". I found my answer in the director's commentary. The writer, director, star has alot of very good friends who acted in and contributed the funds to produce this film. Don't expect entertainment, romance or comedy. The story is largely autobiographical and depressing. Sarah Silverman's character seduces and then dumps the protagonist. She was just curious because she had 'never made it with a fat guy'. I enjoyed the commentary much more than the film. There are many familiar faces among the cast and the acting is good. There was nothing lacking in the technical aspects of the film. The story isn't even interesting.