Don't Think Twice

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Mike Birbiglia/Starring: Mike Birbiglia, Keegan Michael-Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher and Chris Gethard

It's not often we see a film about a close-knit group who have a common passion and who are, in one way or another, consumed or at least affected by it; how it strains their friendships and sometimes forces painful life choices. Such is the plot-line for former stand-up comedian now writer/director/actor Mike Birbiglia's Don't Think Twice; his comedy/drama about an improv troupe's professional and private struggles and the interpersonal strife that define their relationships. Birbiglia's film is funny, sharply observed and often touching. He makes us care about characters not necessarily familiar to us and the volatile world of improv, with its immediate but fleeting rewards.

We meet the improv troupe known as The Commune early in the film, which is made up of Miles (Mike Birbiglia); a late, thirty-something veteran performer and teacher who is given to sleeping with his students. There is also Jack (Keegan Michael-Key), who is prone to hijacking the troupe's performances to impress casting agents in the audience and there is his girlfriend and fellow-troupe member Samantha (Gillian Jacobs) who has conflicted feelings about pursuing stardom. Allison (Kate Micucci) performs in improv comedy but possesses the talent for a career in cartooning while Lindsay (Tami Sagher) supplements her acting with her writing. Her wealthy family background is often a target of the troupe's resentment. Bill (Chris Gethard) copes with the anxieties of performing, self-doubt and his ailing father.

But we first see the troupe backstage, waiting to perform for a small but eager audience. Their quirky, pre-performance ritual consists of mutually-supportive pats on the back. The actual performance gives us a taste of improvisational acting. After Samantha asks the audience for a bad-day experience, a troupe member uses the response as a premise for a comic situation for which the other actors add to an ever growing, funny story-line. Part of the film's charm is seeing a talented group of improv actors ply their craft. One might think the performance continues offstage, as the members mine comedy from random conversation and situations.

We can see how a group who risks failure and ridicule onstage might become a tight, social group. Part of their weekly ritual involves watching the Mt.Olympus of comedic acting: This Weekend Live; a thinly disguised version of Saturday Night Live. It becomes abundantly clear landing a gig on This Weekend Live is an improv actor's dream. We hear the characters talk excitedly about the show's casting personnel attending The Commune's performance while Miles chides Jack about turning a skit into a personal audition, which he does the next time the troupe takes stage. Interrupting the comedic momentum of a piece, Jack introduces President Obama into the story-line for the express purpose of showing off his impersonation. The opportunistic ploy works, for Jack and Samantha are both invited to audition for This Weekend Live in the days following.

But Jack and Samantha's fortune comes with a soupcon of anxiety, for the disclosure to the troupe members elicits feelings of jealousy, resentment and a measure of betrayal. While Jack can barely contain his excitement, Samantha has reservations about auditioning. On the day of, Jack arrives ahead of Samantha and ultimately nails his audition. Samantha, meanwhile, shows up at the office building, only to walk away. When Jack asks about her audition, she claims she was too late arriving and was turned away, which meets with his incredulity. She later explains her refusal to audition as a commitment to her true love of improv, which she refuses to give up.

As Jack and Samantha contend with the issue of his potential stardom and her self-sabotage, the other members of the troupe cope with their own issues. Mile's habitual bedding of his improv students becomes the means by which he combats his loneliness and the sense of failure he feels as an aging improv actor who has yet to find success. The characters (and the audience) detect the cloud of defeat that envelops him and his artistic pursuits, which includes ruining an opportunity to be on This Weekend Live. The sight of Miles sitting half-naked in bed in his small apartment while his young, female student dresses to leave is particularly pathetic. It becomes clear Mike's chances of landing a gig on the T.V. show are ever-diminishing. But a chance meeting with a female high school acquaintance shows him the potential for a different life; something real, though she too senses the hopelessness in Mile's dreams.

When Allison and Bill decide to submit dual samples of their comedic writing, Miles suggests sending his own writing along with their work; an idea they quickly and awkwardly rebuff. As a salve to his pride, Miles declares his intention to submit his own work.

Amid the performing and socializing, the group shows support for Bill while his father rests on his deathbed. After visiting his father, the group breaks into an inappropriate contest of impersonations of the dying man. Their tendency to turn grave situations into improv proves to be a queasily funny tic.

Bad luck visits the troupe when the building in which they hold their performances is sold, leaving them without a home. But other misfortunes threaten to sunder the troupe when Miles discovers his girlfriend is pregnant with another man's child. The news inspires Miles to become serious about his life and the possibility of fatherhood. The troupe's incessant pressure on Jack to submit their material to TWL's producer threatens his already-shaky position on the show as a first-year cast member. Fearing that he'll be fired, Jack commits a breach of ethics when he presents a piece previously performed by The Commune to a Weekend Live cast-member. When the troupe sees their skit performed on the show, they confront Jack outside the building. All the rancor and mutual-animosity between the troupe members surfaces, causing the members to walk away in disgust. Miles' is angered further when he discovers Lindsay's comedy material has landed her a spot on the show as a writer.

While the group is temporarily sundered, Samantha pushes on as the lone member of The Commune while also becoming Mile's successor in his improv acting class.

Though Birbiglia presents the audience with a realistic and a moving portrait of an improv actor's life, he can't resist rescuing the audience from the downbeat narrative developments. The fallout from the troupe's confrontation with Jack is less serious than it appears but the inevitable change it stimulates is very significant.

One might think a whole movie about an improv troupe would be insufferable but it is easy to be drawn into their world and feel their anxieties when Birbiglia's own adversity as a stand-up comic is source material. Birbiglia's take on the improv world is poignant and insightful.

Casting is always key. The actors seem very much at home performing in an improv capacity and are often funny. Keegan Michael-Key is a seasoned sketch-comedy actor, which makes him an obvious casting choice.

Birbiglia's character-driven, smartly drawn story rings sweetly with terrific dialogue and engaging characters. It isn't brilliant but it is likeable and it allows us to gaze into a world we infrequently, if ever see. Birbiglia also allows some reflection about the nature of improv; its artistic merit and its inherent, evanescent nature.

For a small film about an obscure subset of the acting world, Don't Think Twice packs a small, affective punch. Small, yes, but still a punch.