Spooner Review-By Kelsey Zukowski

Starring: Matthew Lilliard, Nora Zehetner
Directed By: Drake Doremus
Written By: Lindsay Stidham
Grade: B

Spooner, a comedy about the fear of growing up, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival this past week. There’s a lot of comedy through the situation that his loving parents are finally kicking him out and essentially making him homeless. However, most of the comedy really comes through the somewhat timid main character, Herman Spooner. He clearly has a lack of confidence and certainly independence, which in many ways has held him back from the experiences in life that should have shaped him.

Herman Spooner (Lilliard) is in a rut. He is nearly 30 and still living with his parents. He has a job, but a dead end job at that. He works at a car dealership and has the worst numbers of any other employee. He is treated horribly by his boss and is not very happy there. He needs a job now more than ever though since his parents are kicking him out. He has to be out of the house by his 30th birthday. It is up to him to find a place and move out by that date. He tries for awhile, but none seem to be the ideal place to him. He finds a picture of a woman modeling a big screen TV and entertainment center. When his parents ask him where he is moving, this is where he claims he will be living once he turns 30.

On his way to a lunch for everybody at work he runs in to Rose (Zehetner), an attractive, stranded girl who he helps out. Her car is broken down and she is already late for a trip she was supposed to make for her going away party back home. Spooner arranges the mechanics at his work to fix Rose’s car up for her. In the mean time, he takes advantage of the opportunity to talk with and try to get to know her a bit more. Later, he manages to find out where she is staying. Unfortunately, his mom has set him up on a date with a women that he has no interest in. Spooner decides to take her to the restaurant at Rose’s hotel in hopes of seeing her. When he does, he manages to get rid of his date who has repulsed him the entire evening. He spends the night with Rose, the girl he really wants to be with. The two talk and get closer to one another throughout the night…and then they spoon, or try to anyway. Spooner has many things that he isn’t happy with in his life that make him feel like a failure, but Rose is his chance for something better. He doesn’t want to let that go and tampers with her vehicle in hopes of keeping her around. Of course this just ends up making things worse though.

The acting was exceptional and clearly added so much likability to the characters and the film as a whole. Matthew Lilliard always does well with comedy and Spooner is no exception. Spooner requires more of a dramatic approach and self-examination of his character than you would think. If Lilliard didn’t have a real understanding of Spooner it could have very easily ruined the film. He brought out the insecurities, fear, and fragility that made up Spooner; still we don’t pity this character. If we did, than we wouldn’t really be able to see the story through his eyes the way we do. We see him as someone who is struggling with life and making it to the next step, but he is still easy to relate to. We can relate to his flaws, because we all have those same feelings to some extent. Flaws are human and luckily, he is portrayed as someone who has his struggles, but has this very innocent likability to him. Spooner is a very interesting character and a great protagonist, but he is a very delicate one, who luckily Lilliard portrayed in just the right manner. My favorite part of Spooner is Nora Zehetner and her character, Rose. She gave an incredible performance, the type that really draws you in to the film more and more with every word that comes out of her mouth. She has this great enchanting quality to her that makes you admire her so much and puts you on the same page as our protagonist who can’t seem to get enough of her either. Where Spooner fears independence, Rose embodies it. She is a very creative person who sees the world her own way and makes no apologies for living life freely. Spooner and Rose seem pretty opposite, but in the end it is their fears that connect them. By seeing in to the other person’s world they give themselves the strength that they doubted they had within them.

Spooner is a lot of things; a life rut story, romantic comedy, and a coming of age film. It also does a great job depicting the almost over-loving family who turns the tables and plays up the tough love. Everything it is on paper though, doesn’t come close to what the film itself really is. There is much more dramatic, emotion, and humanistic qualities that really cause you to connect than the basic plot suggests. As far as the romantic storyline goes, it is really about the characters and how seemingly opposite that they are that lets us examine the depth that make up both of these complex, original, and very likable characters. Also, this isn’t the typical they meet, fall in love, and they live happily ever after type of romance. It is questionable what Rose even feels for Spooner and most likely it isn’t love. The depiction of this attraction/romance is actually extremely realistic and I could very well see this happening in real life, making the film all the more strong and easier to feel connected to it. The writing in the film is great, especially through Rose’s dialogue which was beautifully written as well as delivered. We get this great insight through these words, especially in the scene where Rose is pouring out who she really is one seemingly random word at a time. Spooner is a very funny comedy full of depth, dealing with many fundamental human flaws and emotions.