Tribeca: “I Want to Feel Fun” is Peak LA Absurdity
If you have the thought that you want to feel like a fun person, chances are you’re not relaxed enough to be a fun person. Which is fine, but the quickest way to not be fun is to try to be fun. It’s this essence that’s at the center of Jessica Sanders’ Tribeca-premiering I Want to Feel Fun. The short film is wholly improvised and follows a small group of loosely acquainted people around Los Angeles over the course of one day. The center of this group, and the one who ties everyone together, is Esther (Esther Povitsky). We see her with her non-boyfriend boyfriend (Simon Rex) who can’t seem to stick around, her brother (Avi Rothman), and her brother’s actual girlfriend (Vivan Bang).
At an utterly breezy nine-minute runtime, I Want to Feel Fun has to get right down to business to tell the story it wants to tell. The problem with a wholly improvised movie is that short films, especially, need to have some sort of structure because they don’t have the luxury of time for dalliances. A short needs to pack a punch if it wants to stick in the minds of the audience. I Want to Feel Fun is a series of jabs that do not combine to make a knockout.
courtesy of Tribeca
That’s not to say that I Want to Feel Fun isn’t fun, quite the opposite, but its brevity is what’s holding back the film. Each of the short scenes sets up a comedic scenario that gets to be half-baked before the movie pivots to another moment and the cycle repeats. There’s a lot of comedy to be had in the hijinks of merely existing in Los Angeles, where everyday tasks often create a general sense of absurdity. Even though I Want to Feel Fun is missing elements to make it a standout short film, what’s there does make the audience interested in more.
The film opens with the title I Want to Feel Fun plastered on the screen. It’s juxtaposed with Esther brushing her teeth next to a Nicki Minaj shower curtain, which should tell you the style of comedy you’re signing up for. It’s dry, yet absurd, somehow both overstated and understated. I Want to Feel Fun works as a loose groundwork for something larger. There are gems within the short film that just need a little more polishing and a little more space to breathe and grow.
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