Someone Marry Barry

A mostly underwhelming comedy, Someone Marry Barry follows three friends (Damon Wayans Jr.’s Desmond, Hayes MacArthur’s Rafe, and Thomas Middleditch’s Kurt) as they conspire to find a romantic partner for their obnoxious buddy (Tyler Labine’s Barry) – with the goal being that said woman will occupy Barry’s free time and the trio of lifelong pals will be able to move on with their own lives. There’s never a point at which Someone Marry Barry manages to make much of an overtly positive impact, as writer/director Rob Pearlstein has infused the picture with a low-rent and pervasively hackneyed feel that’s reflected in its various attributes and ultimately prevents the viewer from embracing the one-dimensional characters. (In terms of the latter, this is never more true than in the case of Barry himself, who mostly comes off as an unreasonably over-the-top lout that could only exist in a subpar movie.) It goes without saying, then, that Pearlstein’s ongoing efforts at wringing laughs from an exceedingly stale scenario fall hopelessly flat, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that Someone Marry Barry‘s exceedingly mild success is due almost entirely to the efforts of an impressively charismatic roster of actors. (In addition to the leads’ appealing work here, the movie benefits from the efforts of such periphery players as Brett Gelman, Greg Germann, and Lucy Punch.) The end result is a sitcom-level bit of straight-to-streaming filmmaking that passes the time without resonating with the viewer in any real way, which is a shame, certainly, given the somewhat promising premise and proliferation of talented performers within the cast.

** out of ****