Joshy (film)
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''Joshy'' is a 2016 American
comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film written and directed by
Jeff Baena Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...
. It stars
Thomas Middleditch Thomas Steven Middleditch (born March 10, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Richard Hendricks in the HBO series '' Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019), earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award ...
,
Adam Pally Adam Saul Pally (born March 18, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for starring as Max Blum in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' and as Dr. Peter Prentice in '' The Mindy Project''. He also starr ...
,
Alex Ross Perry Alex Ross Perry (born July 14, 1984) is an American filmmaker and actor. Early life Perry was born to a Jewish family in 1984 and raised in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, where he worked on a local television news program during high school.Renninger, ...
,
Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The Lea ...
,
Brett Gelman Brett Clifford Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series '' Stranger Things'' and as Martin on the BBC comedy ''Fleabag''. Gelman bega ...
,
Jenny Slate Jenny Sarah Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, and author. Born and raised in Milton, Massachusetts, Slate was educated at Milton Academy and studied literature at Columbia University, where she became involved in the ...
and
Lauren Graham Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/ CW television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild ...
. It was shown in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the
2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi Ew ...
. The film was released on August 12, 2016, by Lionsgate Premiere.


Plot

Josh returns home from work on his birthday. His fiancée Rachel agrees to cook dinner while Josh is at the gym. Josh returns home to find out that Rachel asphyxiated herself with a belt. Four months later, Josh along with his friends Ari, Adam and Eric decide to spend the weekend, that was supposed to be Josh's bachelor party, at a ranch in
Ojai Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...
. At a bar the first night, Ari meets a girl named Jodi and finds a connection with her; Adam finds out that his girlfriend wants to break up with him; and Eric, wanting to keep the night alive, invites his friend Greg over. Jodi, being locked out of her place, crashes in with the guys at their place after a fun night. The next morning, their friend Aaron arrives with his wife and kid only to find the place infested with drugs and booze. An argument erupts between Eric and Aaron over the matter of Josh's state of mind and the current situation. Aaron storms off with his family and the guys spend the day out with Greg learning about Rachel's death from Ari. After getting high, Greg becomes extremely emotional due to his troubled past. They head to the bar and find Jodi and her friends there. Ari tells Jodi that he is married which makes Jodi distance herself from Ari. They return home downcast, so Eric invites two strippers to keep the night alive, and an argument breaks out between Eric and Adam. Josh and Eric realize there is a mysterious man stalking them who they try to confront, but in vain. The next day Eric invites several prostitutes, one for each of them, but the party is interrupted by the arrival of Rachel's parents who are there to confront Josh. The parents ask for details of the events leading up to Rachel's death, accusing Josh of hiding his guilt by colluding with the police. They show Josh pictures of the guys with the stripper from the previous night, as the “stalker” was hired to spy on them, and inform him that a second autopsy report found that the cause Rachel's death, suicide, was inconclusive. Josh, in a fit of rage, tears the bag they brought with them only to find out a wire inside it, implying that they were there to get him to confess to the murder of their daughter. Josh asks them to leave and goes to his friends and opens up. They console him, and the group decides to finally play the board game Adam wanted to play since the beginning. The group spends the last night of the weekend playing the "very complex board game" and is joined by Jodi. After the game, Jodi gets up to leave so Ari walks her to the door and kisses her. Jodi realizes that Ari is a married man, ends their embrace abruptly and walks out. The next morning the group bids farewell to each other and decides to meet again some time soon. Josh and Ari are the last to leave. The movie ends with Josh wanting to say something to Ari, but hesitates and Ari drives away.


Cast

*
Thomas Middleditch Thomas Steven Middleditch (born March 10, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Richard Hendricks in the HBO series '' Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019), earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award ...
as Josh *
Adam Pally Adam Saul Pally (born March 18, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for starring as Max Blum in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' and as Dr. Peter Prentice in '' The Mindy Project''. He also starr ...
as Ari *
Alex Ross Perry Alex Ross Perry (born July 14, 1984) is an American filmmaker and actor. Early life Perry was born to a Jewish family in 1984 and raised in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, where he worked on a local television news program during high school.Renninger, ...
as Adam *
Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The Lea ...
as Eric *
Brett Gelman Brett Clifford Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series '' Stranger Things'' and as Martin on the BBC comedy ''Fleabag''. Gelman bega ...
as Greg *
Jenny Slate Jenny Sarah Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, and author. Born and raised in Milton, Massachusetts, Slate was educated at Milton Academy and studied literature at Columbia University, where she became involved in the ...
as Jodi *
Aubrey Plaza Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom '' Par ...
as Jen *
Joe Swanberg Joseph Swanberg (born August 31, 1981) is an American independent film director, producer, writer, and actor. Known for micro-budget films which make extensive use of improvisation, Swanberg is considered a major figure in the mumblecore film mov ...
as Aaron *
Kris Swanberg Kris Swanberg (born Kristin Williams, November 11, 1980) is an American businesswoman, filmmaker, actress and former high school teacher living in Chicago, Illinois. She has been credited at various times as Kris Williams, Kris Swanberg and Kris ...
as Anita *
Lauren Graham Lauren Graham (born March 16, 1967) is an American actress and author. She is best known for her roles as Lorelai Gilmore on The WB/ CW television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), for which she received nominations for Screen Actors Guild ...
as Katee *
Alison Brie Alison Brie Schermerhorn (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress. Her breakthrough came with the role of Trudy Campbell in the drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), which won her a Screen Actors Guild Award. She gained recognition fo ...
as Rachel *
Jake Johnson Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger (born May 28, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, film producer and screenwriter best known for his role as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' C ...
as Reggie *
Lisa Edelstein Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
as Claudia *
Lauren Weedman Lauren Weedman (born March 5, 1969) is an American actress and comedian, known for her regular role on the HBO television series ''Looking'' (2014–2015), and its subsequent series finale television film, '' Looking: The Movie''. She is also kno ...
as Isadora *
Paul Reiser Paul Reiser (; born March 30, 1956) is an American actor, comedian, and television writer. He is known for his roles as Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom ''My Two Dads'', Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom ''Mad About You'', Modell in the 1982 fi ...
as Steve *
Frankie Shaw Rachel Frances Shaw (born 1981) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is best known for playing Bridgette Bird on the Showtime series ''SMILF,'' based on the 2015 short film of the same title, which she wrote, directed and starred in. Shaw ...
as Crystal * Paul Weitz as Private Investigator


Production

Production on the film lasted 15 days, only shooting off a 20-page outline, with the rest of the dialogue improvised by the cast. In December 2015, it was announced that Devendra Banhart would compose the score for the film.


Release

The film had its world premiere at the
2016 Sundance Film Festival The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi Ew ...
on January 24, 2016. In March 2016, Lionsgate Premiere and
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on August 12, 2016.


Critical reception

''Joshy'' has received positive reviews from film critics. It holds an 81% rating on review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's consensus states, "Writer/director Jeff Baena and an able cast of comedic actors strike a unique, disarmingly heartfelt blend of dark humor and tragedy with ''Joshy''." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film holds a rating of 62 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Geoff Berkshire of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the film a mixed review writing: "Boasting a hodgepodge of strong comic voices riffing their way through underdeveloped characters, writer-director Jeff Baena’s second feature after the under-appreciated zombie romantic comedy ''Life After Beth'' is an altogether looser affair, but rarely to its benefit. The name cast guarantees ancillary interest, though theatrical life should be even briefer than Beth’s.”


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joshy 2016 films 2016 comedy-drama films 2016 independent films American comedy-drama films American independent films Lionsgate films American Zoetrope films Films directed by Jeff Baena 2010s English-language films 2010s American films