Jeff Garlin Directs Inconsistent ‘Dealin’ with Idiots’

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Rating: 3.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Jeff Garlin has created a good “character” in TV and films – a gruff but affable schlemiel that ambles through life as if distracted. He amplifies that role in his latest comedy, “Dealin’ with Idiots,’ but the loose improvisation style has too many unfunny stretches and an unpleasant spirit.

The premise has potential – the overt weirdness and over competitiveness (from the parents) of kid’s sports, in this case baseball. Through a bevy of strange and overdone characters, kid’s baseball is shown to be pretty much what it is…a torturous showcase in which only the strong survive. The problem is that the situations strike only a couple notes once it establishes the weird coaches, overwrought parents and diffident kids. In the loose improvisational framework of the film, there obviously just wasn’t enough comic gold to be mined, although most of the funny people in the film were sweating profusely to make it work. There are moments, but they are too few and far apart, plus when it doesn’t work it projects a somewhat harsh attitude.

Max Morris (Jeff Garlin) is a self-described “top twenty comedian” and parent of young son. He has enrolled the boy in a kid’s baseball league, even though his son is not that good. His wife Ava (Nia Vardalos) is supportive, but Max has to put up with the weird coterie of parents and officials that populate the league, including Rosie (Jami Gertz), Harold (Richard Kind), Marty (Fred Willard), Sophie (Gina Gershon), Coach Ted (J.B. Smoove) and Coach Jimbo (Bob Odenkirk).

Max (Jeff Garlin) Interacts with Harold (Richard Kind) in ‘Dealin’ with Idiots’ Photo credit: IFC Films

The circumstances become so strange that Max decides to chronicle the activities for a new film. He begins to visit the coaches and parents to see how they tick, and that leads to more surreal adventures. When the big playoff game comes, Max’s son is asked to not swing the bat and draw a walk. Max then takes over the situation, with advice from his dead father (Timothy Olyphant).

Once the weirdness of the on-field and parental personnel are established, the film has little room to grow. When introduced to uptight lesbian parents at the game, for example, they don’t grow any less uptight when visiting them at home. The scenes click or die based on the performers, and the always reliable Bob Odenkirk and J.B. Smoove provide some life. The two older comedy veterans, Fred Willard and Richard Kind, don’t do much with their characters, relying on the same comic ticks they’ve had for years, and the shelf life has expired.

Jeff Garlin is odd in this movie, he plays Max as if we know that he’s also directing the film – his attention seems elsewhere in every scene. He doesn’t have much chemistry with his wife Nia Vardalos or the boy playing his son (Max Wright). He does come alive at the moments when he imagines himself talking to his dead Dad, but even that takes a few scenes to work.

And what is most unusual is that the film doesn’t have much of a point. Filmed in the same style as “Curb Your Enthusiasm” was structured – an outline of a scene and an improvisation of dialogue – the subject of youth baseball somehow doesn’t fit with the direction that the improvisation travels. It allows for some strange lunacy, which has its moments, but doesn’t make for a cohesive entertainment.

Sophie (Gina Gershon) and Caitlin (Kerry Kinney) in ‘Dealin’ with Idiots’ Photo credit: IFC Films

The ending is odd enough to nearly save the film – a nod to Frederico Fellini and the dreamy nature of life. But this comes after a very angry rant from the Garlin character, which as presented is supposed to be the ultimate “middle finger” to the baseball league. It doesn’t play that way, it’s more frightening than funny. Garlin may have no agenda in his films, as he told HollywoodChicago.com, but there definitely is an unintentional message in the film’s conclusion.

We do live in bizarre and difficult times, and it does help when artists like Jeff Garlin comment upon it. Yet when it doesn’t work, the commentary becomes as bizarre and difficult as the atmosphere it’s observing. We have dealt with the idiots, and they are us.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com