‘Your 20s are all about hope, and then your 30s are all about realising how dumb it was to hope…’
The arts is a weird community. I have many friends who play music, or write, or paint or whatever. I have written thousands and thousands of words about pop culture over the years. Most of those words were only read by a handful of people. Some of them were read by hundreds of people. This is not something that bothers me. It used to be though. We all have an ego no matter who we are, and there was a time when I would obsessively check my stats periodically to see how many people had visited this site that day. I’m happy to say that it’s not something I think about anymore. It’s nice when something connects with people, but I’m never going to make anything like a living from writing. I’m genuinely humbled that anyone reads this shit (thank you!).
So why this diatribe? Well, there are so many people out there trying to put something out into the world, and so often this feels like shouting into a blackhole. It is easy to become disheartened. It is easy to give up. Don’t Think Twice is a movie about people like me. It’s a movie about not quite being good enough. And most of all, it’s a movie about accepting that and being happy with your place in life. The rest of this review isn’t so self indulgent, I promise…
The Commune are a close knit improv group enjoying moderate success on the NYC comedy scene. Headed by veteran improv performer Miles (Mike Birbiglia – who also writes and directs), the group is thrown into disarray when Jack (Keegan-Michael Key) is offered a place on Weekend Live (a riff on SNL).
As the wonderful cast of characters that make up the Commune are all performers in real life, the whole film has a lived in quality that ensures that it never becomes too self pitying. And it really is a wonderful cast. Kate Micucci, Chris Gethard, Tami Sagher – it is a joy to see them working together, but to be honest, Don’t Think Twice belongs to Gillian Jacobs. It helps that Birbiglia gives her the best lines and the best character arc, but her portrayal of a woman fighting against the urge to grow up and live a ‘normal’ life resonated with me in ways that I never would have imagined.
So like the Commune, I’ll keep doing what I do. I’ll keep writing about movies. I’ll keep making ‘music’. I might even finish that novel I’ve been working on (spoiler alert: I won’t). Because if you don’t do this stuff for the love of it, you shouldn’t be doing it at all.