Paddleton (2019)

Mumblecore is not everyone's taste. It's not always mine either. But Paddleton is a tremendous exception that rises above the tropes of it's own genre and becomes something greater all its own. This is one of the low-key great films of 2019. Nobody saw it. Nobody talks about it. But see it you must. At it's core, its a tragedy about losing a good friend to cancer. Alex Lehmann and Mark Dupass approach this through comedy by making these two friends delightfully quirky and weird. It would be a good deduction to say that they are both on-the-spectrum. They find happiness in a daily, somewhat tedious routine. They make pizza, watch kung-fu movies and play Paddelton (which is not a real game, but it so should be). Michael and Andy are so lovably off-kilter, and simple. Which is what makes the final death scene so sad to watch. Mark Duplass and Ray Romano aren't just hilarious on screen, they have chemistry. Believably, these are two guys who don't want to live a second without each other, but have to in the end. FOUR and 1/2 out of FIVE STARS.