The Go-Getter

So, I also saw this one on Netflix. It said it was an indie unconventional romantic comedy with Zooey Deschanel, Judy Greer, Jena Malone, and the one and only NICK OFFERMAN. I had to watch it. It was filmed in 2005 and debuted at Sundance in 2007.

The plot revolves around Mercer, played by Lou Taylor Pucci, who sets out on a cross-country roadtrip to find his half brother following his mother's death. He steals a car in order to begin his voyage but soon begins a telephonic friendship with the car's owner, played by Zooey Deschanel. He meets up with a former classmate, played by Jena Malone, and meets three different crazy characters all played by Nick Offerman.

I thought that the script was rather original and had good dialogue between the characters. While the premise was highly improbable, it brought the characters together. I found all of the characters very quirky and unique. The hidden romantic inside of me loved the plot. It was quite cute and unconventional. It had some cliched coming-of-age/road-trip plot points but it wasn't anything distracting. The end of the movie, again was highly improbable but extremely cute.

The soundtrack was pulled off of my ipod. For real. M. Ward did about 90% of the songs used ( could this be when She & Him was formed???). Elliott Smith, The Black Keys, and some others rounded out the rest of the soundtrack. All of the songs were completely fitting with the mood of the scenes and gave it an easy-going aura to it. The cinematography had the necessary shallow depth of field for an indie comedy as well as nice subtle colorization which made the panoramic scenes quite beautiful. The way the phone conversation was edited with different actresses speaking to Zooey's voice to illustrate the main character's imagination was pretty awesome as was the Goddard nod with the spontaneous dance number.

Nick Offerman was fantastic in the movie! He did three very different characters and was almost unrecognizable, except that he's my future husband so I was able to recognize him right away. Deschanel played not anything that much different from her previous roles, except maybe showed some vulnerability I haven't really seen before. She was also quite comedic - as always. Jena Malone proved that she's no longer the little girl from Stepmom with 1000% effort. She did a great job though. Pucci did a great job although he was almost too nerdy to be realistically paired up with the characters in the script, but all in all he did good.

I really enjoyed this film. It was quirky, funny, had great actors, and an amazing soundtrack. What else do you need? It is one of those small unconventional comedies, which I enjoy, but I guess isn't for everyone. "You're a jerk, jerk, jerk . . . but I like the sound of your voice".