Outline: Lily (Loren Horsley) uses the rejected invitation of a co-worker to get into the costume party thrown by her crush, Jarrod (Jemaine Clement). Pretty soon, Lily and her brother Damien (Joel Tobeck) are driving Jarrod back to his home town, so he can fight the bully who beat him up in high school.Writer-director Taika Waititi (sometimes Cohen)'s awkward central romance is hard to categorize. There are ways in which is feels too horribly, awkwardly realistic and others in which it doesn't come together quite right. He invests a lot of energy into Jarrod's exceptionally bizarre back story, but he lets Lily's life come together more naturally. By Jarrod's abrupt about face at the end, Lily and Jarrod's relationship has stopped making sense (particularly Lily's continued interested in him).
It's fairly obvious that Waititi and Clement have worked together before. A lot of Clement's character elements borrow heavily from his stage/HBO sitcom persona, although he doesn't look nearly as good here as he does there. The film benefits far more from the winsome Horsley's performance. As ridiculously awkward as Lily can be, there's also something sweet and fresh about her that makes her irresistible. It's no wonder that Jarrod's family find themselves charmed even when Jarrod fails to be.
For my money, the stop motion animation bits that serve to underscore the movie's core relationship are, in a lot of ways, better than the movie itself. I never questioned the apples interest in one another, and it's sweet when they finally find themselves together. Actually, despite the unbelivable quality to Jarrod and Lily's courtship, it's quite sweet when they finally get together as well. What can I say? B
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