SXSW Review: ‘The Baltimorons’ is a Warm, Natural Comedy about an Unexpected Friendship

There are so many possible places that two people can meet, and it’s often the most unexpected locations that serve as the backdrop for the start of a beautiful friendship or relationship. For one man in the film The Baltimorons, it’s a dentist’s office. That’s hardly a conventional setting to begin any sort of rapport, but this is a sweet film about two people that aren’t feeling particularly connected to those around them and, after a somewhat rocky start, realize that they’re able to see and relate to each other in a way that others in their lives just can’t.

Cliff (Michael Strassner) is on the way to Christmas Eve dinner with his fiancée (Olivia Luccardi). Things are already tense since the recovering alcoholic has caused an issue by suggesting he might go to an improv show, which is apparently a trigger both for their relationship and his sobriety, since he used to perform drunk all the time to get the biggest laughs – and alienate his colleagues in a disastrous enough way that he hasn’t been back in a long time. When he cracks his tooth, he rushes to find a dentist, and Didi (Liz Larsen) is the only one open. After he overhears her having her Christmas Eve plans cancelled, he decides that he’s going to offer her a memorable night that might even be good for her too.

Dentists are rarely the protagonists for romantic films, though this one is in excellent company with Olympic Dreams, starring Nick Kroll and Alexi Pappas, which also begins from a place of friendship with questions of potential feelings between its two main characters. They’re not the same age, and Cliff being younger is only made more apparent by his general silliness and immaturity, which are both highlighted by his squeamishness and childish demeanor when Didi first starts working on him. That setting is soon ditched for the streets of Baltimore, which serve as a very worthwhile playground for an improvised night that includes such hijinks as trying to break a car out of a tow lot and frantically searching for an impossible dinner reservation on one of the busiest nights of the year.

The Baltimorons, which gets its title from an improv routine Cliff used to do in his heyday, comes from a screenplay by Strassner and the film’s director Jay Duplass. It definitely has the feel of a Duplass Brothers Productions project, with natural dialogue and a true intimacy that allows audiences to get to know Cliff and Didi at a time in their lives that is most certainly not the one they would choose to be seen. They have so little in common yet find themselves in similar places of loneliness and without any backup plan, and so they’re a perfect duo to wander aimlessly as they latch on to that sense of connection that comes from the sheer convenience of them having been united in a moment of monotony and misery.

Strassner and Larsen are very well-paired for this particular assignment, and they’re each capable of adding subtle comedy to each moment without going too big. Watching as they become more comfortable together and start to see what the other needs is extremely worthwhile, and it’s clear that these characters have something together even if it’s not meant to last and is merely a reminder of what else they may or may not have going on in their lives. Duplass, whose past directorial credits include Jeff, Who Lives at Home and Cyrus, has a penchant for spotlighting lonely characters, and his latest effort is a wondrous celebration of life with two unlikely friends having an unforgettable night that’s sure to leave an equally positive impression on audiences.

Movie Rating: 8/10