Recovery (2021)

Recovery (2021). Recovery: Directed by Mallory Everton, Stephen Meek. With Whitney Call, Mallory Everton, Julia Jolley, Anne Sward Hansen. Two directionless sisters brave a cross-country road trip to rescue their grandmother from a COVID outbreak at her nursing home.

“u0026quot;Recovery,u0026quot; a film written by Whitney Everton and Stephen Meek involves two sisters, Jamie (Whitney Call) and Blake (Mallory Everto) . They stage an across-the-country trip to rescue their Nana from an old folksu0026#39; home during the pandemic.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is one of the few—-perhaps only—films Iu0026#39;ve seen that completely embraces Covid-19 in its storyline. The traveling sisters (Whitney and Mallory) have actually been best friends since the age of nine. The home-made video at the end confirms their easy familiarity. They are also sketch comedy veterans of u0026quot;Comedy Cu0026quot; and do a wonderful job of embodying their characters and (for Mallory) in writing the screenplay. Comedy is not easy to skillfully create. It needs to be as light and fluffy as a souffle. These two seem like the heirs apparent to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen the film opens, Jamie (Whitney Call) is celebrating her 30th birthday. The coronavirus is not yet a thing. Jamie is a teacher of 4th graders. She is thinking about buying airline or hotel stock and investing in a pricey gym membership. Sister Blake (Mallory Everton) has just had a one-night stand with a cute guy named Scott; that is another topic of conversation.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThey are unaware that they are about to be frozen in time by the pandemic. In the background of the next few scenes we hear the disheartening news of 51,000 deaths on March 30 of 2020. (If nothing else, this film will be a great time capsule.)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUpon learning of the ravages of coronavirus on Nanau0026#39;s nursing home, the pair, headquartered in New Mexico, at first are counting on their older married sister, Erin (Julia Jolley), who lives in Washington closer to Nana, to ride to the rescue. Paulina Jerockova (Anna Swerd Hansen), their beloved Nana, needs to be moved out of the nursing home as quickly as possible—a plot point that is factual, as one-third of all deaths in the United States took place in the close quarters of nursing homes.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe husband of Whitney Call, Stephen Meek, helped write and direct this light-hearted film, and I recommend it for those of you wanting to see the comedy stars of tomorrow.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately, Erin (Julia Jolley) is off on a cruise with her husband. (u0026quot;The tickets were so cheap,u0026quot; to which the sisters in New Mexico respond, u0026quot;Yes, because itu0026#39;s a death trap!u0026quot;)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are so many funny things in this 80-minute film that I enjoyed. I was just relieved to discover that it wasnu0026#39;t a grim documentary about surviving some horrible illness, but a light-hearted distraction that audiences need.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s a funny bit about the girls really getting into their music and pounding on their car horn as they tool down the Interstate. Next to them on the highway is an elderly man on a motorcycle. The girls roll their window down to explain their innocence. Thinking that they are honking at him, the Hellu0026#39;s Angel senior spits through the open window of their car. The panic over strange spit is merited and very funny.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is the potential hottie u0026quot;Scott,u0026quot; of whom Blake says, u0026quot;I seriously met him at the worst moment in history.u0026quot; After sending Scott several funny (but meant to be endearing) memes, she gets a text from Scottu0026#39;s roommate, saying Scott has died of Covid-19.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eScott has simply panicked. He tried to think of a way out of responding appropriately to Blakeu0026#39;s memes. His idea of an u0026quot;appropriateu0026quot; response is, after revealing that he is NOT dead, sending an inappropriate personal picture and then texts Blake to ask her for her Hulu password.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe excuse for Scottu0026#39;s inexplicable behavior? u0026quot;Heu0026#39;s probably just stressed about Covid.u0026quot; That, or he is incurably out-of-it, but the lengths to which Scott has gone do come off as funny in the expert comic hands of our two leads.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThen thereu0026#39;s Nanau0026#39;s dog Bruce. The girls need to collect Bruce along the way, since Nanna is very fond of her dog. Nana has also been very fond of Fred, a fellow inmate in her nursing home. He has been making nightly visits to Nanau0026#39;s room. The girls are very explicit about telling Nana NOT to let Fred in, as he may have the coronavirus. The adventures retrieving Bruce are also enjoyable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBlake and Jamie, trying desperately to be the first family members to reach Nanau0026#39;s nursing home before Erin, the older sister from the cruise ship, arrive.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI really enjoyed the simple asides about how Nana used to drive her car by using a mop handle on the accelerator. (I had a friend who used a brick, but nevermind about that.) And then thereu0026#39;s the u0026quot;go-tou0026quot; strategy for distracting older sis Erin by asking her to share u0026quot;the birth story.u0026quot; Every family has a similar story that will set one of its members off on a long stroll down memory lane.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Recoveryu0026quot; was genuinely funny and well done.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTry it; youu0026#39;ll like it.”