The Marc Pease Experience (2009)

The Marc Pease Experience: Directed by Todd Louiso. With Jason Schwartzman, Ben Stiller, Anna Kendrick, Jay Paulson. Former high school musical star, Marc Pease, finds himself still living in the past, eight years after graduating.

“You might be expecting a brainless romp to divert your mind for a few hours. And based on some of the IMDb reviews, you might be expecting a particularly bad one.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, thereu0026#39;s a lot going on in this film which may not be obvious at first, and if you key in on it I think youu0026#39;ll have a great time. This is not a standard plot-based comedy. The plot is pretty basic: a 26-year-old high school has-been (Schwartzman) wants to redeem himself for his colossal bomb in a school musical 8 years earlier. So whatu0026#39;s the big deal?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe big deal is that the character is a lot more complex than your standard brainless-romp protagonist. Heu0026#39;s a hopeless dork with a somewhat annoying Pollyanna way of bouncing back from tragedy–not to mention the most preposterous Dutch boy haircut youu0026#39;ve ever seen–and for that you might think heu0026#39;s unconvincing as a human being. But actually he is a great embodiment of the stage motto u0026quot;the show must go onu0026quot;. If you remind yourself of this, not only is he believable but heu0026#39;s really entertaining to watch. Late in the film we learn things about him that add tremendous depth and humanity to his character, and even though heu0026#39;s a hopeless dork he ultimately becomes one of the most memorable u0026amp; endearing dorks Iu0026#39;ve ever seen. I was never a fan of Schwartzman before this, but Iu0026#39;ll be checking out his other films for sure.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the other end of the balance is his musical director (Stiller) who is the opposite of a dork: a total douchebag. Yet they share a common quality that you will learn at the end of the movie, and you see that the two of them are two sides of the same coin. Once it all comes into focus, you realize how clever this story is. Stiller is great, by the way. Heu0026#39;s one of the most convincing douchebags Iu0026#39;ve ever seen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn addition, those of you who are familiar with the Broadway show u0026quot;The Wizu0026quot; will get a kick out of how the music goes along with the story. Or even if youu0026#39;ve never seen u0026quot;The Wizu0026quot;, you can follow along with the backstory of The Wizard of Oz. Schwartzman basically plays a naïve Tin Man type of character while Stiller is an overbearing yet impotent Wizard. I thought that was a very nice artistic touch to weave the stories together like that.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs for laughs, though this isnu0026#39;t a madcap comedy like u0026quot;Police Academy 19u0026quot; there were some really good zingers that I had to rewind u0026amp; play again because they were so unexpected (like Megu0026#39;s poetic reading LOL). But overall, I thought this was far more than a brainless comedy. Even the goofy scene of a bunch of grown men bitch-kicking each other (LOL again) carried some great drama as well as a poignant, thematic message.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is the sort of movie I foresee having a respectable cult following in 10 or 20 years, so get in early on the fun.”