Hello all! Sorry about the late post. I decided that an exciting way to start out my week was to get into a pretty horrible car accident, so I've been dealing with insurance people and cops and whatnot. It's been super stressful, as you can imagine. So unfortunately this post is late BUT, it's a good one today. I'll be reviewing a little unknown film called "Closing Escrow," starring Wendi McLendon-Covey ("Reno 911!," "Bridesmaids"), Cedric Yarbrough ("Reno 911!"), April Barnett ("Reno 911!") and a bunch of other genius comedy actors and writers.
"Closing Escrow" is a relatively low-budget mockumentary film about three quirky families who decide to move, and hire three different real-estate agents who are just as quirky - if not more - than the families they're helping find a new place. After a series of unsuccessful open house showings (and crazy shenanigans), all three families and agents bid on the same property, making for an unexpected (and hilarious) climax.
Pretty interesting premise, eh? At first I thought trying to make a movie about real-estate was hard enough to make interesting, let alone a comedy about real-estate. But trust me; the people who wrote "Reno 911!" wrote this movie, so it was in good hands from the beginning.
Pros:
1. Each real-estate agent is funnier than the last. Wendi McLendon-Covey plays Hillary, a kind of Michael Scott character, and she is a white real-estate agent that sells homes to minorities without realizing she's super offensive. She tries very hard to be politically correct, but she's so dense that she doesn't realize that that's what makes her even more offensive.
Ryan Smith plays Richard, a real-estate agent who destroys homes for sale to get the selling price down. And Bruce Thomas plays Peter, the most normal of the real-estate agents with the perfect life. I'd call him the control in the experiment. He over-acts a bit, but in all he's really the only "normal" character in the movie. Each character is different and hilarious in their own way, and you can't help but watch as they embarrass themselves and everyone around them.
Same goes for the families that are assigned to each real-estate agent. There's an African-American couple who are both attorneys and constantly talk to each other as if they're in court, with the wife being the apparent dominant one in the relationship; the most white bread American church family ever, who is overly attached to their house, and whose father constantly tries to one-up Peter's seemingly perfect life; and the crazy couple, complete with the shy, meek Tom and his rabbit-killing, psycho stalker girlfriend Dawn.
2. Each pairing up of real-estate agent to family couldn't have been more genius. Hillary of course gets paired up with the African-American couple and embarrasses them time and time again with her ignorant attitude. For example, when she first meets the couple she'll be working for, she says "I want you to know that I am YOUR slave; I work for you."
Richard gets paired with the shy guy and his psycho girlfriend, and they have to try to stop him from destroying every potential home they see. He even takes them to houses that aren't considered open houses yet, and breaks into them while people are still living there.
Peter gets paired with the all-American white bread family, and when Allen - the family's father - realizes how perfect Peter's life is, this starts a one-upping mission of epic proportions. Their pairing was also funny to me because Peter is a legitimate real-estate agent that is trying to keep his cool with a
client that won't make up his mind (and doesn't intend to). It's even better
when you keep in mind that it's a neighbor he wants gone, so he is trying
desperately to help him find a house.
3. The fact that it's shot documentary style is what makes it so funny! I totally bought that these crazy and quirky characters were entirely real and totally believable.
Along those same lines, the characters were silly and maybe even extreme at times, but still remained totally believable. I totally think that there are people out there like the characters in this film, and they're probably not exaggerating the personalities of real people.
4. It goes back and forth between the different families and agents, so every scene feels so fresh and even more hilarious than the last, even though you're following the same three families.
Cons:
1. I wish more people knew about this film.
That's about it, folks! This review was short and sweet today, but I hope you liked it! If you hadn't seen or heard of this movie before this (I'm guessing most of you haven't), then GO SEE IT. It's definitely worth checking out. 4 stars for you, "Closing Escrow"! You go, "Closing Escrow"!
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