Results-2015
Director Andrew Bujalski
Starring Guy Pearce
Scott’s Review #471
Reviewed August 29, 2016
Grade: C-
Aside from one fantastic supporting performance by Kevin Corrigan, who should have been the star, Results (2015) is an independent romantic comedy that lacks any real identity.
The film struggles to decide which couple the audience is meant to root for, leaving me rooting for none of them, and frankly, a bit bored with the overall script.
Still, Corrigan and, to some degree, Guy Pearce make it a tolerable watch.
Corrigan plays Danny, a newly wealthy average Joe type who joins a gym, presumably to build a supportive network of friends, as he is new in town, Austin, Texas.
He meets Trevor (Pearce), who owns a local gym and is trained by the moody Kat (Cobie Smulders).
The three individuals’ lives intersect as a triangle of sorts develops.
Kevin Corrigan, who has appeared in numerous independent films over his decades-long career and in blockbusters such as Goodfellas (1990), completely steals the show and is the main reason to tune in.
His acting is effortless as he plays a lonely, rich man looking for human connections. He is troubled but has a comic wit that shines and gives him the vulnerability he needs.
We want him to find happiness despite being unlikable.
Speaking of unlikeable, Smulders as Kat is a frigid iceberg with attitude for miles. Why anyone, let alone two men, would be interested in her is beyond me.
Pearce is appealing as the good-natured, aspiring-to-be successful businessman named Trevor, who is buff beyond belief- to enormous credit, since Pearce is no spring chicken.
Otherwise, we know little about his character. He is not in love with Kat, but suddenly seems to be.
Kat warms to Danny, but then falls for Trevor. The entire romantic entanglement is silly, and no chemistry exists among them.
Casting Giovanni Ribisi as a stoner lawyer and Anthony Michael Hall (The Breakfast Club from the 1980s) as a fitness guru is pointless.
The fitness/gym angle is cool if you’re a fan of physical fitness, as I am. It is a nice little lesson as Kat teaches Danny basic core exercises.
But after too many scenes of Kat drinking kale shakes and jogging incessantly, or Trevor eating egg-white omelets and doing bodyweight exercises, the message feels like overkill.
They are fitness buffs- we get it.
The biggest fail is how the film focuses on Danny and Kat as a potential romantic couple, then suddenly shifts gears and makes Kat and Trevor the main couple, with Danny on the outside looking in.
It really makes little sense, and by that point I was already bored, so the film just petered out for me.
Results (2015) has shreds of potential with better-structured storytelling, but it misses the mark in many areas; underdeveloped characters and a meandering plot are a couple of major problems.
Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Supporting Male-Kevin Corrigan
