What will you do if you are given a few days to live? Start making meth? Jump into a volcano? Drink yourself stupid? A new dry comedy from the director of Infinity Baby Bob Byington explores this idea with cringe-inducing hilarity. Byington, who once again partners with character actor David Krumholtz following their work on Frances Ferguson (2019), is an unstoppable auteur. And don’t let Lousy Carter’s tight 80-minute runtime (including credits) fool you into thinking it’s some kind of disposable comedy.
In addition to Krumholtz sinking his teeth into another deadpan role that makes the audience think “Yeah, he was born for this,” other fan favorites like Martin Starr (Party Down) and Stephen Root (Barry) appear in the film. But it might be the women who steal the show here, especially Olivia Thirlby (The Wackness) and newcomer Luxy Banner. The dark and uncommercial subject matter may not be for everyone — but for all of you indie die-hards out there, have at it!
Fans of Byington’s work will quickly recognize that he hasn’t strayed too far from his signature style here — and that’s a good thing. Who better than Krumholtz to not only keep doing what he does best in a Byington film but also raise it up another notch or two, resulting in what could be seen as the filmmaker’s masterpiece? If you’ve seen the trailer or even just glanced at this logline, it should come as no surprise that Lousy Carter revolves around one doctor visit/one piece of news we all fear hearing one day. Mr. Carter, or “Lousy,” as he has been known simply because it’s a nickname that has just “stuck” over time, takes the news with nothing more than a slight facial contortion — and off we go, soon meeting everyone else in his world.
It’s not a big ensemble — but at the end of the day (no pun intended), as we get older, don’t we seem to have fewer people around us on a daily basis? When he’s not teaching a graduate-level class on the lesser-known novel The Great Gatsby, Lousy looks after his feisty mother (Mona Lee Fultz) in a nursing home.
Wait, don’t you usually read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic and analyze it in high school? Yes, this is something that is hilariously addressed in Lousy Carter — and one can only imagine the deadpan, eye-roll-type responses delivered by the ever-cynical Lousy when his students — including dry-but-seductive Gail (rising star Luxy Banner) — try to call him out on it. Byington utilizes a constantly panning camera to heighten the comedy of moments like these, and it’s an absolute riot.
Lousy also keeps in touch with his ex Candela (Olivia Thirlby), who provides an amusing little movie connection here if folks remember that Academy Award-winning masterpiece Juno (2007). In Lousy Carter, the lovely Thirlby plays the ex-girlfriend of a teacher who winds up having somewhat inappropriate relations with one of his students (no spoilers); in Juno, she portrays a student who has questionable rapport with at least one teacher at her high school. It’s a funny little twist on that “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” game y’all have been playing for years.
What better partner in crime for this absurdist tale than Martin Starr, the sort of meandering, “ask me if I give a s***” type of shlub that Lousy presents himself to be? Yes, he and Krumholtz have worked together — since Freaks and Geeks — and it shows. Here, Starr plays Kaminsky, another professor at the school where Lousy teaches. Things get complicated when Lousy takes a shine to (read: becomes obsessed with) Kaminsky’s beautiful wife Olivia (Jocelyn DeBoer). Maybe Lousy is thinking, “Hey, I’m a ticking clock. Why not?”
Then there’s Coen brothers-regular Stephen Root who just came off his Emmy-nominated supporting turn as boss Fuchs in HBO’s beloved dark comedy series Barry. In Lousy Carter, he plays the eponymous hero’s questionable therapist with a unique accent you might not be able to place — and maybe that’s the point. Root’s screen time is limited but it’s one of those Milton Waddams situations if anybody remembers his iconic little character in Office Space. Neither of Root’s characters here dominate their respective films but the performances are remembered long after the credits roll…
Even in the face of certain death, Lousy still deals with office politics, temptation, finances, anger suppression – everyday stuff. While we’re not necessarily hurtling towards death as quickly as Lousy may be, his grounded persona throughout these otherwise somewhat bonkers proceedings reminds us why we go to movies like this in the first place. Yes you will laugh — but more importantly you will feel differently by the end of this tight little movie.
That feeling may be too much of a downer for some folks out there though; lovers of all those pesky upbeat rom-coms etcetera etcetera. Krumholtz has told MovieWeb how he is quite a big fan of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) but don’t expect those kinds of thrills in a movie like Lousy Carter. Enjoy instead the quieter, purposefully cringe moments that may make you think about your own place within society.
