The scenery-eating pestilence that is Kate McKinnon absolutely ruined “Yesterday” (2019). That’s too bad, because the premise of a struggling busker suddenly waking up in a world where seemingly only he knows the works of The Beatles is brilliant. The “Masquerade” plot structure is deployed skillfully as the busker struggles to have his false voice heard, then rockets to stardom. The climax is clever and the story amazingly finds additional poignant twists as it parachutes to its conclusion. Except someone thought McKinnon would provide (unneeded) comic relief as a record exec. Her character’s existence is an unwanted irony unto itself.
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Inexplicably, uncomfortably, authentically funny. Going in, I thought “Family” (2019) carried the whiff of a middle schooler’s gym class farts. Then I realized Kate McKinnon only had a small role and this film was serving up some of the coldest deadpan since peak Steven Wright. Sometimes, awkward kids turn out great. Sometimes they become awkward aunts who suddenly have to care for awkward pre-teens. This movie talks about those times, and is able to do so hilariously and with just a smidgen of heart. The humor is so dark and edgy, though, I’m not surprised it wasn’t a commercial hit.
Yeah, I know “Office Christmas Party” (2016) is stupid, but it’s appropriately stupid for the plot (epic gesture needed to save the company). It’s necessarily stupid for its genre (R-rated farce). Simply put, it’s just the right amount of stupid (although I saw the unrated version, so, technically, what I saw was extra stupid). Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman have made like 377 films in the past few years, so they seem to be homing in on a formula in which they’re both uptight and everyone else is crazy (although I do wish the formula involved my seeing fewer penises).
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