Friendsgiving (2020)

Directed by Nicol Paone. Starring Malin Åkerman, Kat Dennings, Jack Donnelly, Jane Seymour, Aisha Tyler, Ryan Hansen, Deon Cole, Chelsea Perretti, Christine Taylor, Andrew Santino. [R]

Embarrassing get-together comedy is like if someone took a script for an ABC Family made-for-TV movie and made it all racy and wild (by the standards of what your parents or grandparents probably think is racy and wild). Best friends Åkerman and Dennings are supposed to spend a simple, quiet Thanksgiving together, but you know what that means—it’s gonna turn into a big, loud affair with lots of wacky people, wackier shenanigans, and drama-played-for-laughs. The laughs aren’t there, but the two-dimensional walking stereotypes sure are, as guests keep showing up out of nowhere with little to no introduction or explanation, including a trio of random lesbians (Dennings is gay and still getting over a breakup that’s no longer visible in the rearview mirror); at least they’re not as depressing a sight as an appearance from a different threesome: Dennings’ “Fairy Gay Mothers”, one of whom is played by Wanda Sykes in about a minute of screentime, which is enough to earn her a spot on the poster. Most of the cast is talented, but Jane Seymour can’t keep coasting on “hot cougar” roles, I must have missed the part where Chelsea Peretti arrived so her non-character could noisily interject her two cents several times in the second half, and Christine Taylor is virtually unrecognizable as a one-joke concept—a plastic surgery disaster. Still, I’d say the worst part is the handful of faux-“dating profile” fourth-wall breaks, as inane as they are smug and “clever”. Moldy leftovers three weeks after Turkey Day may be preferable to this. Åkerman and Taylor’s husband, Ben Stiller, are among the producers.

21/100