Before I get into it, I should just put it out there: I'm an avid John Krasinski fan. It's not entirely about his looks (it's probably like 80% about his looks) — I genuinely find him to be a talented individual. A very attractive, funny, attractive, talented individual who made me and thousands of other women weep upon the announcement of his engagement to that biatch from The Devil Wears Prada.
Based on a collection of fictitious interview transcripts, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men was going to be a bit of a challenge to translate into a film no matter what. Krasinski opted to do it as straightforward as he could. The interviewer (unnamed in the book but going by Sarah Quinn here) sets up a camera and interviews a series of men about why they're so "hideous," as part of research for her graduate thesis.
This particular presentation, nonchronological and really just a parade of losers recounting why they suck, one after the other with occasional interludes connected by very loose plot, as well as the occasional philosophical conversational narration by Lou Taylor Pucci and Max Minghella, simply doesn't flow well onto the screen. For a while I couldn't quite put my finger on why this movie wasn't working, and then a friend pointed it out, what every writing teacher worth his or her salt will tell you: show, don't tell.
Brief Interviews is literally a bunch of guys sitting in front of a camera, one at a time, talking. Sure, they're telling stories, but this may as well have been a movie in which people sit and read the book out loud. The audience doesn't want to watch on-screen storytime — it wants to see these stories come to life, played out by these sad sacks. Even in the moments that take place outside the little room with the camera, nothing really happens — it's all just talk, and talk doesn't push the characters anywhere.
The minimal action, maximum talk style did at least give the actors the chance to really work on the delivery of their monologues. The performances are solid — Julianne Nicholson is earnest and sincere as Sarah, who, as much as she wants to understand men for her thesis, also wants to understand why they do the things they do (i.e. why they hurt women the way they do).
Her team of subjects are a rag-tag one, played by generally recognizable actors such as Will Arnett, Josh Charles (as a smarmy douchebag who uses the same "heartfelt" break-up speech on about five different women), Joey Slotnick, Will Forte (hilarious as he tries to prove how much he loves women), Christopher Meloni, Timothy Hutton (as Sarah's advisor), and oddly, Ben Gibbard (back when he was still chubby). Krasinski himself, as Sarah's ex and the motivation behind her new research, makes brief appearances throughout the film, his final of which, sadly, proves to be the worst 10 minutes of the entire film — his character is too verbose and melodramatic, only one of which Krasinksi can really pull off. (He at one point uses the phrase "You bitch," a sentiment that sounds wholly contrived and unnatural coming from him.)
With twenty minutes to spare, the movie begins to pick up. A mashing of clips, already seen and new, provides a raw wake-up call provided by one of Sarah's students. Another key moment lies in Subject #42's confession about his father — the only recording Sarah takes down that doesn't involve sex or the subject's relationship with women — which segues into a conversation between the two about the legitimacy — or humiliation — of the latter's job as a men's room attendant.
DVD Bonus Features
A 6-minute interview with John Krasinski about how Brief Interviews With Hideous Men inspired him to become an actor
Pretty standard behind-the-scenes footage
A TV spot and a trailer
"Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" is on sale March 16, 2010 and is not rated. Comedy, Drama, Indie. Directed by John Krasinksi. Written by John Krasinski, David Foster Wallace. Starring Dominic Cooper, John Krasinski, Julianne Nicholson, Lou Pucci, Max Minghella, Timothy Hutton, Will Arnett, Will Forte.
