Talon Marks review by Tim Dickerson, Dec. 5, 2006
Jeff Anderson (of the "Clerks" fame) makes his directorial debut with the romantic comedy, "Now You Know."
Made in 2002, and only shown at film festivals since then, "Now You Know" finally got a wide DVD release on Nov. 28.
Jeremy's (Jeremy Sisto, TV's "Kidnapped") wedding was called off by his former fiancé. He heads back to New Jersey to hang out with his slacker lawn-mowing friends, Gil (Anderson) and Biscuit (Trevor Fehrman, "Clerks II"), as he tries to figure out what he did wrong in his relationship with his fiancé, Kerri (Rashida Jones, "Little Black Book").
The movie is basically pushed by light humor which makes it a very enjoyable hour and 40 minutes.
Gil and Biscuit's breaking and entering scenes are quite funny. They break into people's houses, don't take anything, but they rearrange things. This provides funny after effects when the man wakes up and freaks out when he finds that his pictures are on different walls. "Imagine you wake up one day and your living room is in your dining room."
All of the conversations between Gil and Biscuit are humourous. Anderson undoubtably thought of himself as Gil when he was writing the script as these scenes were the highlights of the movie.
No jokes in the film cause a laughing riot but they do provide pleasant chuckles for an enjoyable viewing.
Jeremy Sisto never ceases to amaze, even in this film. While other actors fail miserably when playing a character pouting over a lost love through an entire movie, Sisto pulls it off very well in a real way.
If this film suffers at all, it is because it gets too serious and dramatic when Anderson classifies this as a comedy. The drama is good and the comedy is as well, it just feels confused of what genre it falls under.
While many other films have explored the realm of sexually confused characters, this felt like it was taken to a new level and yet didn't play it out too long. In fact, it was very lightly touched on, which was different for a movie like this. Many movies revolve the entire plot around deciding between the two sexes, while this just hints at the idea.
Anderson's directorial debut was a great start and hopefully he'll continue as a director as he shows real promise.
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