The Weekend (Stella Meghie 2018) USA

Reviewed by Carlie Klein. Viewed at the Chinese Theater AFI film festival.

In Stella Meghies romantic comedy, The Weekend, it all felt a little too predictable even though the initial circumstances seemed totally unrealistic. The former SNL cast member Sasheer Zamata, accurately fit the role to play, Zadie, whose occupation is.. a stand up comedian. Her comedy sets include her overindulging in her irritation and dissatisfaction of her breakup, and utter confusion with a broken heart trying to understand why her ex would want to still be friends or think they even could be. This brings us to the weekend where Meghies organized the time frame titling the day and time of day. Zadie agrees to go on a trip with her exboyfriend Bradford and his new girlfriend, Margo. The destination, oddly, was at Zadie’s parents bed and breakfast out in the countryside. The only other guest seen staying at the B&B was a single, handsome man of the same relative age, Aubrey. The standout performance was obviously Sasheer Zamatas unapologetic, self deprecating humor and blatantly insulting but very honest delivery.

I watched this film in Los Angeles at the Chinese Theater earlier evening, and the audience seemed to enjoy the dry, relatable humor Zamata presented. Her lines felt as though she was the one to say things that everyone thought of, but would never bring themselves to say out loud in the presence of company. This type of humor was very similar to Robert Downy Jr.’s portrayal of Sherlock. An obvious disregard of social cues and common curtesy has audiences laughing, while at the same time cringing to the real life implications of such a character.

This film holds a very niche place in humor and film. To some audience members, the humor was relatable and fun, while others cringed at the awkward exchanges and circumstances the characters find themselves in. Many moments were memorable, such as Zadie and Aubrey attempting to copulate in the back seat of his BMW, but a good proportion of the scenes were predictable and unmemorable to the average viewer. While I enjoyed the movie, it seems as though it will have much success as a late night binge on Netflix.