I Used to be Funny: Film Review
I have been a huge fan of Rachel Sennott ever since she came onto the scene with Shiva Baby. She has proven her comedy credentials time and time again but I Used to be Funny allows her to show off her dramatic chops too.
In Ally Pankiw‘s film, Sennott plays Sam Cowell, a stand-up comedian living in Toronto. When the film opens, she discovers a 14-year-old girl named Brooke (Olga Petsa) has been missing for four days. For a while, you have no idea who Brooke is, why she is missing or her relationship with Sam, but the gaps are slowly filled in through flashbacks.
The film goes back and forth between the present day and Sam being employed as Brooke’s nanny two years ago. The flashbacks eventually move closer and closer to the present day to help you understand why Sam has become depressed, traumatised and a shadow of her former self. She cannot bring herself to do stand-up and she is barely living in the present because she’s so fixated on the past.
Pankiw withholds a lot of information from us for a while so the full picture and Sam’s backstory with Brooke remains a mystery for some time. While it was frustrating at the beginning, it became more interesting as it progressed and the puzzle pieces slowly came together. It surprisingly became more of a thriller towards the end and I was fully gripped as it neared the central game-changing revelation.
I cared about Sam and Brooke’s relationship – they were basically like best friends or sisters – and Sennott and Petsa’s scenes were really well written and acted; they had a wonderful rapport. There is a beautifully cathartic confrontation between them at the end that I found really satisfying, although the actual conclusion was possibly a bit too neat and unrealistic.
This is a fantastic showcase for Sennott. We usually see her in full-on comedy mode but this allows her to show off her versatility. As the title suggests, Sam used to be hilarious, easygoing and full of life but now she is dark, serious and barely looking after herself. Sennott really shines in the flashbacks as Sam has a cool vibe and personality but the present-day scenes prove she has the range. I’d like to see her do more dramatic work in the future.
I went into I Used to be Funny completely cold and had no idea what to expect and I was hooked the whole way through.
In cinemas from Friday 7th June