Results
USA 2015
Written by Andrew Bujalski
Directed by Andrew Bujalski
Watched on 29.10.2015

Mumblecore is tricky business. Done right, it can be more lifelike and thus relatable than a regular hollywood comedy. Done wrong, it can be extremely mundane, trivial and dull. As for “Results”, for me it landed somewhere in the middle – though overall, I have to say that I was rather disappointed by it.

Since mumblecore-films usually have no noteworthy story to speak of, what it ultimately comes down to, for me, are the characters. There’s nothing worse than listening to a bunch of assholes talking about anything and everything for two hours. On the other hand, if the characters are either likeable, relatable, interesting and/or a combination of those, it can be quite entertaining. In that regard, “Results” is a mixed bag. I probably liked Kat best, since she seemed quite true-to-life and down-to-earth to me. Although even with her I had to wonder why she started befriending one of her customers, and Danny at that, if it’s against her principles. As for Trevor: While I liked his sincerity, especially when it comes to what he does and the philosophy for his company, it also seemed to be his only noticeable character trait. And Danny was mostly insufferable, especially later on when he decided that he would use his considerable wealth to ensnare young college chicks. Not to forget the meeting with his ex-wife where he tries to win her back, despite her making it very clear in advance that she doesn’t even want to talk about that. And finally, I didn’t get his character development from being pissed on Trevor for loving Kat and throwing him out, to him playing Cupid and trying to bring them together. The movie’s further hurt by the fact that despite a sleek running time of 105 minutes, “Results” felt at least 15 minutes too long, with most of its fat resting in the middle part, which dragged along endlessly. It’s not all bad, though. There were a couple of funny and/or pathetic moments, like Danny paying someone a hundred bucks in order to show him how to play internet videos on his huge TV, so that he can watch – and pause – the promotional film of the gym where Kat is doing her workout. And I also quite liked the dinner scene with the russians. The actors also are quite good all around, and the cast overall quite impressive for a low-budget feature like that. Mostly, though, “Results” lives off of Cobie Smulders incredible and seemingly immeasurable charm. Without her, the movie wouldn’t be even half as good. She manages to elevate it from mostly pointless to at least halfway entertaining and thus watchable.
4/10

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