Atlanta Film Festival review: "Terri"

Think - when's the last time you saw a new movie that is truly unique? For me it had been quite a while, but I managed to catch one with Azazel Jacobs' "Terri," the opening night movie for this year's Atlanta Film Festival 365.

And what makes that all the more amazing is that it comes with such a familiar structure - the lovable authority figure who reaches out to the high school misfit and teaches him or her how to live life (another of one those? Sheesh.) But both the greatest strength and simultaneously a weakness is that "Terri" doesn't initiate a grand, transformative experience for the titular hero here, just gives a bit of dignity to a kid who sorely needs some.

When you first meet Terri, you'll see, however, just how much of an accomplishment even that will be. Jacob Wysocki, who I had never seen in anything before, plays the rather rotund kid who wears pajamas to school because, well when you see him, I think you'll understand. It's just one of the many uncomfortable situations that Jacobs plays for a mix of humor and drama that, while it never really picks a side, doesn't have to. And Wysocki, from the way he runs as Terri to the contempt for the world around him he expresses in his face, is a natural comedian and someone you'll fall in love with from the start.

Not surprisingly, Terri has few friends at the high school he only bothers to turn up to sporadically at best. Who has time for that when he has to concern himself with catching the mice who roam the attic in the shack he shares with his senile uncle, Creed Bratton of "The Office" fame in a restrained performance that will catch you by surprise.

The job of drawing Terri out of this rut falls to school principal Mr. Fitzgerald, played by John C. Reilly in another fairly great performance in his second career act as a comedian. This isn't, however, the broad kind of role he delivered in taking over "Cedar Rapids," though he does do some yelling in an attempt to convey at least a smidgen of authority. He just plays a guy who's clearly in over his head, but still tries to reach out to the misfits (or, as Terri calls them, "monsters") who cross his path each day. The best scenes in "Terri" involve Reilly and Wysocki squaring off and looking for some common ground, which they eventually find they have more of than either expected.

Jacobs' movie, based on a screenplay he wrote with novelist Patrick Dewitt, is more than a bit too episodic in its first half, but it gets better as the scenes grow longer, culminating in one completely uncomfortable take on the "Breakfast Club" scenario of the outcast summit. I don't want to spoil any of what happens when Terri eventually finds two friends in Heather (Olivia Crocicchia), the pretty girl with a bad reputation, and Chad (Bringer Zadina), a kid so angry he can't find much else to do than constantly pull his own hair out. These kids definitely aren't all right, and what happens when they come together with a bottle of whiskey and some of Terri's uncle's pills will be the most polarizing aspect of this movie, assuming anyone gets too see it when it gets at least some kind of theatrical release in July.

In the end, though it could certainly use some more narrative drive, what Jacobs' movie has is plenty of humanity, and in that it reminded me of the movies of Thomas McCarthy, one of my very favorite directors (probably also admittedly because I saw "Win Win" yesterday, and that was sensational.) If you get the chance to see it, I think you'll enjoy this tale of a genuine misfit searching for a little bit of dignity. I know I did.

Gervais and Merchant bringing their "Idiot" to American TV soon ... bully

Actually, the best thing I could find this morning is the above photo, which is from director Thomas McCarthy's "Win/Win," which is due probably fairly soon in certain corners of the world and is definitely playing next year's Sundance Film Festival.

As you see, the flick stars Paul Giamatti (never a wrong first step) as a struggling attorney who volunteers as a high school wrestling coach and takes on the guardianship of an elderly client in an attempt to save his practice. When the client's teenage grandson runs away from home and turn up at his grandfather's door, Giamatti's coach eventually discovers he has some wrasslin' skills and, well, I suppose something similar to "The Blind Side" will unfold.

Except for in McCarthy's hands it will almost certainly be something much better than that. McCarthy, also an actor who starred on the final season of "The Wire" and also somehow in "2012" (hey, a man's gotta eat, right?), has so far directed the simply sublime "The Visitor" and before that the almost as good "The Station Agent" (and, according to his IMDB biography, at least the pilot episode of HBO's upcoming "Game of Thrones" series, too ... bully.)

So the man knows what he's doing, and he's got the always enjoyable Amy Ryan and Jeffrey Tambor on board for "Win/Win" too, so this is definitely one to keep an eye out for.

And in great news that will benefit American TV viewers much sooner, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are bringing the worldly adventures of their comic foil, Karl Pilkington, to something called The Science Station, with the debut tentatively set for Jan. 21.

Now, I'm really not that much of a Luddite, though I still don't own a cell phone, and probably never will. I read just about every science article I come across in the New York Times, but until this morning, I really had no idea there was something called the Science Channel, but thankfully I do indeed get it.

So I'll be able to tune for the six-part series "An Idiot Abroad," and certainly will. But what in the world is it?

Well, if you've ever tuned in for one of Gervais and Merchant's podcasts (and if you haven't, certainly check one out), you know that Pilkington is the frequent subject of their abuse as, well, more than a bit of an idiot. It can get pretty brutal at times, but mostly its just very, very funny.

And along with his great "Monkey News," one of Pilkington's most common lines of thought is that he fears anything that isn't familiar, and particularly anything not British. So what do Gervais and Merchant do? Send him around the world, of course, and in particular to several of its wonders, including Chichen Itza in Mexico, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, the Giza Pyramid Complex in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu in Peru, Petra in Jordan and the Taj Mahal in India, and film the whole thing.

I haven't seen any of what came of all this beyond the trailer below, but I'm betting on very funny, and will definitely be tuning in to find out. And with that rather short report, I have to get ready for what is always about a 10-hour Monday work day. Enjoy the trailer, and have a perfectly nonirritating Monday. Peace out.

An "Arrested Development" reunion - of sorts? Bring it on!

Just a quick report today fueled by a large cup of Jittery Joe's java, because I'm soon off to see "Shutter Island" and then go to see Jack McBrayer host a screening of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" as part of the Macon Film Festival (crap film, but should still be fun night.)

Before all that fun, however, there are a couple of bits of intriguing news out there this morning.

Though the "Arrested Development" reunion diehard fans most want to see would have to be the tremendously long-gestating movie, any project that reunites creator Mitch Hurwitz with Will Arnett - a k a Gob Bluth, of course - on TV in the meantime has to be good news.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hurwitz and "Arrested Development" co-executive producer Jim Vallely are close to signing a deal to create a single-camera, half-hour series for Lionsgate TV to be aired on Fox, with Arnett to be the main star. The show, in what sounds rather suspiciously (but welcomely) like the further adventures of Gob Bluth, would be about a "rich Beverly Hill jackass" who falls in love with a charitable tree-hugging woman who can't stand his lifestyle. Come to think of it, it sounds an awful lot like "Curb Your Enthusiasm" too, but either way, it should be just insanely funny.

Hurwitz and Arnett have reunited on TV once before since the end of "Arrested Development," but calling their very-short-lived animated series "Sit Down, Shut Up" a disaster would be far too courteous. Here's hoping this new project comes together and works out a lot better, but doesn't keep Hurwitz and Vallely away from that "Arrested Development" flick for too long.

There's other news this morning about Thomas McCarthy, who, if I were ever to get around to listing my 10 favorite directors (actually, sounds like fun), would definitely make the roster somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Along with starring as that seriously unscrupulous reporter on the final season of "The Wire" (reminder, David Simon's New Orleans series "Treme" premieres on HBO on April 11!), McCarthy has directed two perfectly sublime indie flicks, "The Station Agent" and the even-better "The Visitor." And now comes great word about the cast for the new project he's developing for Fox Searchlight.

Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan (double huzzah!) have joined the cast of "Win Win," which McCarthy is writing and directing as a semiautobiographical tale about a teen runaway who is taken in by a suburban New Jersey couple and joins the local high school's wrestling team (McCarthy wasn't the runaway, but rather one of his teammates.)

If that sounds suspiciously like a white, suburban "Blind Side," so what? I'd have to assume Giamatti will play the wrestling coach and Ryan the mother who takes the kid in, and with McCarthy guiding this it all sounds great to me. Shooting is set to start in the Garden State in April.

And by the way, did you know McCarthy is an Oscar nominee, for his contribution to the screenplay of "Up"? Congrats!

All I have after that today is a slew of clips from "Cop Out," courtesy of Collider.com. I'm still not convinced that Kevin Smith's hired hand flick is gonna be any good, but it should provide the ultimate confirmation that Tracy Morgan really can be funny in anything. Enjoy, and if you're headed to the big Macon Film Festival event tonight with Jack McBrayer at the Cox Capitol Theatre, I'll see you there. Peace out.