Writer/producer Justin Long's 2013 rom- com, "A Case of You," was most notably viewed at the Tribeca Film Festival and had a very limited commercial run. Some critics were very harsh in their critique of Long's comedy about Sam, a dissatisfied film novelist who falls in love with a barista he meets at a Brooklyn coffee shop. I'm not sure if I would go as far as Rodrigo Perez did in "The Playlist" when he condemns "A Case of You" as the first Facebook "Stalker Comedy," but ultimately the film's premise is a thin one.
The barista in question is one "Birdie," played by Evan Rachel Wood. After Birdie is fired from her job, Sam decides to seek her out but first decides to become familiar with all her Facebook hobbies. In that way, he reasons, she'll be drawn to him. A few of the bits are actually amusing, especially Justin's guitar lessons with a 90s music aficionado loser played by Sam Rockwell and Sam's agent and a literary consultant's critique of his new "art" novel based on his relationship with Birdie (their professional advice is that his protagonist is a narcissist which leads Sam to an epiphany that his phony way of courting Birdie is no longer working).
The problem with most of this is that Sam is too much of a loser for us to have much sympathy for him. In real life, it's the ego-infused "bad boys" that should interest us, as they cross the ethical line with impunity and often (unfortunately), get away with it. In contrast, Long and his co-writers ask us to laugh at "sad sacks" like Sam due to their ineptitude and laughing at such characters with their attendant pratfalls, do little to tickle the funny bone.
The narrative also occasionally goes too far, crossing into the realm of crude humor. Example: Roommate Eliot, who masturbates to pictures of Martha Stewart and a contemporary Carrie Fischer!
To cap things off, we learn that Birdie has realized early on what Sam has been doing but still falls for him anyway (an unlikely turn of events unless you like sentimental endings). The theme of "A Case of You," is "To thine own self be true," with Sam finally realizing that being somebody else ultimately does not lead to success in the courtship game. What he should have done was watched Bill Murray's masterful performance in "Groundhog Day," a basic primer on the correct and incorrect way of "getting the girl."
The barista in question is one "Birdie," played by Evan Rachel Wood. After Birdie is fired from her job, Sam decides to seek her out but first decides to become familiar with all her Facebook hobbies. In that way, he reasons, she'll be drawn to him. A few of the bits are actually amusing, especially Justin's guitar lessons with a 90s music aficionado loser played by Sam Rockwell and Sam's agent and a literary consultant's critique of his new "art" novel based on his relationship with Birdie (their professional advice is that his protagonist is a narcissist which leads Sam to an epiphany that his phony way of courting Birdie is no longer working).
The problem with most of this is that Sam is too much of a loser for us to have much sympathy for him. In real life, it's the ego-infused "bad boys" that should interest us, as they cross the ethical line with impunity and often (unfortunately), get away with it. In contrast, Long and his co-writers ask us to laugh at "sad sacks" like Sam due to their ineptitude and laughing at such characters with their attendant pratfalls, do little to tickle the funny bone.
The narrative also occasionally goes too far, crossing into the realm of crude humor. Example: Roommate Eliot, who masturbates to pictures of Martha Stewart and a contemporary Carrie Fischer!
To cap things off, we learn that Birdie has realized early on what Sam has been doing but still falls for him anyway (an unlikely turn of events unless you like sentimental endings). The theme of "A Case of You," is "To thine own self be true," with Sam finally realizing that being somebody else ultimately does not lead to success in the courtship game. What he should have done was watched Bill Murray's masterful performance in "Groundhog Day," a basic primer on the correct and incorrect way of "getting the girl."