Good on Paper

Directed by Kimmy Gatewood, Good on Paper follows Iliza Shlesinger’s Andrea as she meets and befriends Ryan Hansen’s affable Dennis but eventually questions how much of his nice-guy exterior is just a facade. There’s little doubt that Good on Paper fares best in its innocuous yet entertaining opening stretch, as Shlesinger’s easygoing, relatively charming presence is heightened by her obvious chemistry with her handsome costar. (This is despite the fact that Hansen sports fake teeth that remain a total distraction from start to finish.) It’s consequently fairly easy to overlook the picture’s proliferation of less-than-impressive attributes, including Gatewood’s impossibly bland direction and a recurring emphasis on eye-rollingly obvious bits of comedy (eg Dennis’ unreasonably wacky roommates), and yet there eventually (and perhaps inevitably) reaches a point at which Good on Paper begins to wear out its welcome to an aggressive degree – with the movie’s downfall triggered by an erratic and mostly silly midsection that slowly-but-surely drains the proceedings of its charm and energy. By the time the film arrives at its palpably desperate third act, which features a curiously (and pointlessly) graphic burst of violence, Good on Paper has undoubtedly cemented its place as a wildly unfocused comedy that squanders an unexpectedly appealing first half and lead performance.

** out of ****