Mary Beth's Sex Tape
2018 · 10m · USA
Directed by Megan Patsel
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, humorous
A struggling comedian decides a sex tape is the career move she needs. Her motley crew — a provocateur sex writer, a green film-student director — fumbles the production into beautiful, absurd disarray.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
An ensemble where everyone's playing some warped version of themselves and the chaos becomes the script. The title's a feint — the actual film is sharper than it pretends to be.
Patsel builds a Christopher-Guest mockumentary out of alt-comedy Brooklyn — ensemble of comedians playing fictionalized themselves, the only structure that works for this kind of ego sprawl. The pitch lands.
Mockumentary about a stand-up making a sex tape with a 'scream I'm woke' sex-writer collaborator and a film-student director — the alt-comedy NY scene rolodex is doing real work here. The 'spouting off in all directions' description sounds like it could either zing or get lost.
Reviews
The film is carried by absurd personalities and performances, spouting off in all directions.