THE BALTIMORONS: 4 STARS. “two people who find the gift of companionship.”
SYNOPSIS: “The Baltimorons,” an underdog romance from director Jay Duplass, now playing in theatres, sees a dentist and her blabbermouth patient form a connection as they spend a special Christmas Eve together.
CAST: Michael Strassner, Liz Larsen, Olivia Luccardi. Directed by Jay Duplass.
REVIEWS: Set on Christmas Eve “The Baltimorons” is a character study of two mismatched people who find the gift of companionship.
Michael Strassner, who co-wrote the script with director Jay Duplass, is Cliff, recovering alcoholic and failed comedian. When he falls and breaks a tooth, he finds Didi (Liz Larsen), the one dentist willing to take a patient on Christmas Eve.
Even though they don’t exactly hit it off right away—“If you keep talking, I’m going fit you for a muzzle,” she tells him.—when his car is towed, she offers him a lift to the impound. His irrepressible nature lies somewhere between overbearing and charming, but over the course of one event-filled night, feelings develop between the two lonely people. “I just had an amazing day,” he says. “That’s it. And I didn’t want it to end.”
“The Baltimorons” is a quiet, sweet natured movie about an annoying guy who hides his vulnerabilities behind a façade of verbal diarrhea and a lonely woman searching for connection.
A throwback to character-based indie movies, circa the mumblecore years, the movie is a simple story about connection but is laced with subtext drawn out of the situation. As the two find ways to pass the time on Christmas Eve, their lives and true selves reveal themselves organically, without ever feeling like plot points wedged in for dramatic effect.
With a light touch Duplass and Strassner’s script touch on recovery, resilience and the role creative passion plays in Cliff’s life. These details bring these underdog characters to gentle life.
The film’s sense of longing and sentimentality is unspoken, but, by virtue of the Christmas setting, is steeped into every frame. Didi’s melancholy regarding her broken marriage is amplified by the season, as memories of Christmas’s past are triggered by the twinkling lights of downtown Baltimore and celebrations happening around her.
In the film’s final moments Did asks Cliff, “Where are we going with this kid?” “I don’t know,” he says. “I just like you.” Like the film itself, the exchange is simple, without bells and whistles, heartfelt and yet perfectly sums up the situation.
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