A friend working in a video store (shout-out to Kirsten!) lent me a preview DVD that contained director Andrew Bujalski’s Funny Ha Ha. We both loved that movie and became mublecore fans. But there was always something about Bujalski, particularly now as his movies appear more like mainstream comedies like Results, he still retains a certain authenticity and commitment to the everyday, particularly when it comes to working and jobs. I heard Bujalski’s latest comedy, Support The Girls (2018) was good, and I knew I’d like it, and I finally watched it thanks to SBS On Demand, and it was great. That’s the review!
Set in a Hooters type restaurant named “Double Whammies” alongside a busy highway, a blank strip of commercial chains, Regina Hall is wonderful as Lisa, the efficient restaurant manager who we follow over the course of a day. Lisa keeps things moving with authority and professionalism while displaying care to her employees. This is a care that’s genuine but it’s also built upon making sure everything runs smoothly. Haley Lu Richardson and Shayna McHale (aka Junglepussy) are also really great, giving star-making supporting performances as her most reliable staff, reliable in different ways: Richardson is the spirited firecracker, and McHale is more of a trusted confidant and supporter.
As the day wears on and the complications involving the restaurant build – a robbery attempt, a power outage, an unauthorised fundraiser – Hall’s character is under stress and under appreciated, particularly by her boss, the store owner played by a funny, dickish James LeGros. Support The Girls is a great workplace movie that has broad comedy moments but also avoids sitcom story beats or resolutions; there is a resigned if not defeated air to how hard-working people are slighted and shafted by capitalistic circumstance. Great sense of the flatness of American highways and suburbia and chain restaurants, while finding some beauty and sense of peace within all of that commercialism (the home system demo scene is so key to that). Available to stream on SBS On Demand. Recommended.
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