Landline (2017)

Must See Movie...

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This film tells the story of two sisters who discover that their father is having an affair. They deal with it in different ways.The story also tells the love story of every major character in the film. It tells how every person relates to the world around them, and how they connect with their significant others. It is very real life like, and hence it can feel draggy and boring at times. All the couples involved have different outcomes, and it gets interesting and reflective at the end.

Landline Cheating on your spouse in the 1990s was more acceptable because the President was doing it. However, according to this comedy it didn't make it any less upsetting on the children. While twenty-something-year-old Dana (Jenny Slate) is cheating on her fiancé (Jay Duplass) with her ex (Finn Wittrock), she learns from her teenage sister Ali (Abby Quinn) that their father (John Turturro) has been having an affair on their mother (Edie Falco). This bombshell not only helps to reconnect the estranged siblings, but also forces Dana to confront her own infidelity and for Ali to face her growing drug addiction. While it's enjoyable to relive the nineties, there is little else to enjoy about this run-of-the-mill period piece. With a derivative narrative about a New York affair, flat punch lines and unlikeable leads, Landline is best left disconnected. Besides, who needed to cheat in the 1990s when landlines offered 3-way? Red Light

A school of thought says that monogamy is enhanced by infidelity, a counter-intuitive theory that writer/director Gillian Robespierre and writer Elisabeth Holm appear to support in their engaging comedy, Landline. The family of two girls, Dana (Jenny Slate) and Ali (Abby Quinn), Mom (Edie Falco) and Dad (John Turturro) are in constant dysfunctional mode with two major infidelities and a few drugs. It's really a dramady because the resolutions of conflicts rest in some serious soul searching while the writers have kept enough light tone to lift spirits when gloom seems to be the order of the day. Laughs are more an expression of agreement that life is messy. The antidote is humor and love.Easy enough when dad cries out that his infidelity is borne of never being what his wife wanted him to be. Then Dana embarks on an affair to neutralize her fears of marriage. Both indiscretions seem to be rooted in insecurity.This bright indie respects the humanity of its characters so that it makes no judgment but rather celebrates their weaknesses and emphasizes their strengths and also believes that in 1995 the world is ready for an easy bridge from tape to floppies to digital, from eyebrow rings to tattoos.The film's good will extends to minor characters like Dana's lover,Nate (Finn Whitrock), a pleasant former school chum with a resemblance to John Davidson, in other words wholesome with a cute smile. The film allows that such a romance is not outlandish, just morally questionable so as to endanger her engagement. Equally so dad's affair, although we never get to know his paramour.Mostly Landline is about people who stay connected, not by current restrictive social media but by talking. This retro way of communicating might be the film's subtle prescription for long-term happiness.

"Whatever happened do Jenny Slate?" (It would be understandable to ask that question – before 2016-2017.) "Isn't she the girl who accidentally dropped the f-bomb in her first appearance on Saturday Night Live and then got fired at the end of the season?" (Yes and yes.) "Has she even done anything since?" (Yes!) Slate was a stand-up comedian when she started appearing on TV shows in 2005. After her productive but ill-fated season on SNL (2009-2010), she really… came out of her shell. Slate and film director and editor Dean Fleischer- Camp (to whom she was married from 2012 to 2016) created the "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On" books and short films, with Slate voicing the title character. She then appeared in several TV shows (some at the same time), including "House of Lies", "Parks and Recreation", "Kroll Show" and "Married". She then voiced more animated characters in "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" (2011) and "The Lorax" (2012). Slate started really showing her talent as a feature film actress in 2014's "Obvious Child" and then… 2016-2017 happened. In 2016-17, she voiced major characters in the high-profile animated features "Zootopia", "The Secret Life of Pets" and "The LEGO Batman Movie". Later in 2017, she continued staking her claim to a prestigious film career in movies like "Gifted" and, the subject of this review, the comedy-drama "Landline" (R, 1:37).Slate plays Dana Jacobs, a young NYC woman who finds herself at a crossroads. She's newly engaged to a kind, but milquetoast guy named Ben (Jay Duplass), but she reconnects with Nate (Finn Wittrock), an old flame from college, and she feels like she needs some time to figure out what she really wants. She leaves the apartment that she shares with Ben and moves back home, using the excuse that her younger sister, Ali (Abby Quinn), needs her. Ali is trying hard to be a hip chick and deciding where she's going to go to college, but what concerns her the most at the moment is her parents. She has come across some indication that her playwright father (John Turturro) is cheating on her mother (Edie Falco). As the two sisters try to get to the bottom of what their father is up to, they begin bonding as never before and Ali is able to help her older sister decide how to move forward in her life. Since this story takes place in 1995, a lot of the conversations take place over telephones mounted on walls, hence the film's title."Landline" is a heartfelt and humorous examination of life choices within the context of one family. (It is, however not to be confused with another 2017 movie with the same title and starring Matthew Aaron, Khalid Abour and Tom Arnold.) The later (and more widely distributed) "Landline" is well-written by Elizabeth Holm and well- directed by Gillian Robespierre (both of whom also did the same jobs and collaborated with Slate on "Obvious Child"). They give us a story that is well-paced, relatable, engaging and funny at just the right moments. The acting is excellent, especially by Slate who has maintained her excellent comic timing while emerging as a fine actress. Although the plot seems slight at times, it's strong on insight into issues of romance and family relations and makes for quality entertainment. "B+"