By John Corrado
A struggling improv comic in Baltimore needs an emergency dentist appointment on Christmas Eve. It sounds like the setup for a joke (and maybe it is), but it’s also the inciting incident of The Baltimorons, a tender and funny chance encounter romance from director Jay Duplass.
Duplass crafts the film as a showcase for star Michael Strassner, who co-wrote the script together. Strassner, whose appearance calls to mind the late John Belushi, stars as Cliff. Cliff is a recovering alcoholic whose standup comedy career is stalled out, but he is in the process of trying to rebuild his life.
Cliff is going to Christmas Eve dinner with his fiancée Brittany (Olivia Luccardi) at her family’s home. But he chips his tooth on the way in the door and has to find an emergency dentist. This takes him to Didi (Liz Larsen), a divorced older woman who happens to be the only dentist in town open for an emergency call on December 24th.
From here, well, it’s best to just let The Baltimorons do its magic, as Cliff and Didi end up on a series of misadventures together. Cliff introduces her to the improv comedy concept of “yes, and,” which the film really takes to heart in the way it unfolds, with each plot point leading to something else. The real magic of Duplass and Strassner’s screenplay is in how it feels loose and spontaneous, but also intentional and lovingly constructed.
It’s all adding up to a deeper place, in service of a story that sensitively handles themes of addiction, depression, and mental health. Duplass has to walk a careful tonal balance to pull this off, and he succeeds. The film is wistful and bittersweet without being saccharine, funny and delightful without sacrificing the inherent pathos of its story. A big part of this is Strassner, who finds the right balance in his textured performance as the classic “sad clown” trying to make everyone around him laugh to hide the brokenness inside.
It’s recognizable as a Christmas movie, but the scrappy version of one, with roots in the mumblecore movement that gave Duplass and his brother Mark (an executive producer here) their start. It serves as a gentle crowdpleaser (the film won the Audience Award at SXSW), that is easy to see entering yearly rotation as a countercultural holiday staple. Finally, The Baltimorons is set to a jazzy backdrop of Christmas standards meant to evoke Vince Guaraldi, giving the film that warm, Christmassy feeling.
The Joy of Movies 