Self Reliance

Directed by Jake Johnson, Self Reliance follows Johnson’s Tommy Walcott as he’s offered the chance to win a million dollars if he can avoid the advances of several assassins for one whole month. It’s an intriguing premise that’s employed to watchable yet perpetually erratic effect by Johnson, as the filmmaker, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a somewhat hit-and-miss comedy that is, for the most part, buoyed by its oddball narrative and assortment of thoroughly agreeable performances – with Johnson’s predictably compelling turn matched by such first-class periphery players as Anna Kendrick, Mary Holland, and Christopher Lloyd. (Andy Samberg, cameoing as himself, offers up funny, memorable work that remains a short-lived highlight.) And while Johnson has peppered the movie with a handful of admittedly amusing sequences and digressions, with everything involving the homeless man (Biff Wiff’s James) Tommy befriends an obvious and ongoing highlight, Self Reliance generally has the feel of a tight, briskly-paced short that’s been rather awkwardly expanded to feature length – which is a shame, ultimately, given the proliferation of appealing elements and attributes within the proceedings.

**1/2 out of ****