Larry Oliver Film Reviews

Pictured : 'It doesn't matter that you dated the owner. It's the hottest bar of the summer. We're reclaiming the space.' Mandy ( Merlot , right) instructs Stella ( Alexi Wasser , centre) and Ruby ( Ruby McCollister ) agrees in a scene from the New York City dating comedy, ' Messy ', written, directed by and starring Alexi Wasser . Still courtesy of Simone Films / Vertical Releasing . Messy , the debut feature of actress turned sartorial assistant turned writer-director, Alexi Wasser, is a ‘seize the day’ kind of movie. Offered $100,000 to make a feature – that’s the budget, not her fee – Wasser coerced celebrity friends and ‘young talent’ to appear for nothing in a film in which for she wears next to nothing in many key scenes. The film switches between her boudoir, a drinking establishment and the back seat of an Uber – ‘bed, bar and beyond’, so to speak – as it tells the story of how the freshly uncoupled Stella Fox (Wasser) negotiates the allure of avail...

  Pictured : Doug ( Aristotle Athari , seated centre) tells the story about how he and Valerie ( Catherine Cohen ) were forced to flee their rent stabilised Upper West Side apartment in the New York City-set comedy, ' The French Italian ', written and directed by Rachel Wolther . Still courtesy of Mirmade Films . The French Italian is one of those quirky New York City comedies that you start to watch on a streaming service then decide fifteen minutes in that it is really time to send out those funeral invites. It focuses on the righteous indignation (read: narcissistic entitlement) of an Upper West Side career indifferent couple (read: how did they ever meet?) who decide to avenge their forced retreat from a rent stabilized apartment. This being a modest budget New York comedy (no mobile phones were used for the capturing of performance), they decide to take their revenge when they find out that their torturer, Mary Dancyger (Chloe Cherry) is an aspiring actress who is on Inst...