Movie Review: quirky comedy Brigsby Bear

I must admit when Brigsby Bear movie first started I thought … I dear. Why had I given up a gorgeous spring day to sit inside watching this? But then the twist came. What a delight!

Thanks to Brigsby Bear

Brigsby Bear begins with a scene reminiscent of all those children’s television shows I grew up with. Think Lost In Space, The Thunderbirds or the type of show you used to make in your bedroom using cardboard boxes … no … just me them.

We meet  James (Kyle Mooney), a man in his twenties watching videos (yes videos) of his favourite children’s television show Brigsby Bear Adventures. Strange? Sure. When we meet his parents Ted Mitchum (Mark Hamill) and April Mitchum (Jane Adams), it becomes clear that something has gone terribly wrong in the world. The family are living in a bunker that gets powered down each night.

Thanks to Brigsby Bear

When the police arrive one night and drag James away we find out his parents are not what they seem. James had been kidnapped as a child. But that’s not the worst of it. The Brigsby Bear Adventures show had come to an abrupt end.

As  James explores the real world we quickly grow to love this man-child as he shows us life through the eyes of an innocent. He’s enchanting. So too his desire to finish the Brigsby Bear Adventures story. I won’t say anymore or I’ll ruin it for you.

The casting is brilliant.

Thanks to Brigsby Bear

Watching Mark Hamill play a man who’s created a fake world is priceless. The restraint shown to let us in on the joke without slapping it across our face is refreshing. A comedy that realises it’s audience has a brain, who’d have thought.

Greg Kinnear plays Detective Vogel  brilliantly. A detective with a hankering to be an actor, his scene preparation is something I know I’ll remember.

James’s friend Spencer, played by Jorge Lendeborg Jnr with the right amount of cool and love, is an important piece in the puzzle.

Claire Danes pops in as Emily the well meaning psychologist.

Brigsby Bear movie is like an onion. A movie about a man-boy making a movie about a fake TV show. So clever. As I walked back to my car I pondered:

1. It’s a strangely lovable sweet movie. I defy you not to have a heart warming tear at the end;
2. Mark Hamill is so good. I can only imagine how much he laughed when he read the script;
3. So too Greg Kinnear;
4. Who needs green screen and computer effects;
5. Big congrats to the writers Kyle Mooney and Kevin Costello;
6. With the emphasis on fake news at the moment, a comedy movie about a fake universe in a fake TV show is just what the world needs.

Brigsby Bear is showing at Luna Cinemas.