I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

Actor Jeff Garlin makes the transition to writer/director with a fun blend of shlubby average joe gags and more sophisticated comedy banter. One minute he’s making jokes about Aldous Huxley and Paddy Chayefsky and the next he’s slumming it with riffs on naked actresses and lewd sexual acts. It’s a high end/low brow mash up that’s much like a cross between the sensibilities of Woody Allen and Kevin Smith.

While Garlin’s style is a pleasantly fresh blend for the romantic comedy genre, the story of I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With is ultimately too thin to perfectly sustain itself for even its brief 80 minute runtime. Garlin plays an actor named James who may as well be named Jeff Garlin. He lives at home with his mother, binge eats nightly on junk food from a local convenience store, works days as an improv comic at Second City, and spends nights getting entangled in pleasant yet awkward romantic situations. The film’s title is a sweet lift from a scene in which James and his maybe-date ice cream scooper, Beth (Sarah Silverman), watch a couple eating cheese serenely at a picnic and together decide that they too want someone to picnic with. The problem is that Beth has many quirks and might even be slightly unhinged. Better to further scout Chicago for other women including a chance encounter turned into a potential fling with Stella (Bonnie Hunt). The biggest quest for James, though, isn’t the discovery of the perfect woman. He’s actively pursuing the title role in what he considers to be a wildly unnecessary remake of Marty and seeking to revolutionize his unhealthy way of life.

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With is no masterpiece but is has its charms. Garlin’s got a great gift for creating surprisingly authentic moments for the funny yet emotionally wounded James. It’s a sharp, well-rounded character with great wit and warmth. I only with he had a fuller film to occupy. This is just too sparse and simple to hold Garlin’s greatly likable persona.

Grade: B-