LolliLove

March 22, 2006

Rated: NR Runtime: 70 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

LolliLove is the uplifting story of a successful Hollywood couple, Jenna and James Gunn, who make the decision to give something back to the community. They raise the money from corporate sponsors and launch the new charity “LolliLove”, and their goal is to distribute lollipops to homeless people. But these aren’t just any lollipops. These lollipops have special wrappers that feature uplifting messages and James’s custom-designed artwork.

LolliLove This mockumentary is actually pretty short (just over an hour), and if I say much more than that I’ll end up spoiling some of the scenes. But I thought it was one of the better mockumentaries I’ve seen that didn’t have Christopher Guest’s names in the credits. I hope the filmmakers take that as a compliment, as most movies in the mockumentary genre tend to suck.

The acting and most of the scenes played out very naturally. Although some of the scenes seemed a bit contrived, but they didn’t overstay their welcome. And kudos to Peter Alton for his excellent editing of this movie. (Poor editing is usually the downfall of most mockumentaries I’ve seen.)

LolliLove was directed and co-written by Jenna Fischer, who is best known for her role as “The Girl” on NBC’s version of The Office. Jenna stars in Lollilove with her husband, James Gunn, who is best known for being the screenwriter on the two Scooby-Doo movies and the Dawn of the Dead remake. Gunn also wrote and directed Slither, which is due in theaters next week.

Most surprising of all is that this movie is being distributed by Troma Studios. Sure, James Gunn has a long-standing connection with Troma. (He wrote the screenplay for Tromeo and Juliet back in the 90’s.) And Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman appears in LolliLove as “Father Lloyd” and delivers one of his best acting performances ever, providing marriage counseling for Jenna and James.

But there’s nothing Tromatic about LolliLove. In fact, the movie could even be called “cute”. Perhaps Troma is trying to expand their horizons a bit. If so, I think they’ve picked a winner. This disc is packed with extras, including an entertaining “Making of” featurette and visits to the set of Slither by Kaufman and Debbie Rochon.

There have been reports that both Amazon and Troma quickly sold through their initial shipments of LolliLove. So if you’re a fan of mockumentaries, you’ll definitely want to reserve your copy of this funny little movie today.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Posted by Chris Terranova | Filed Under 4 Stars, Comedy, DVD, James Gunn, Jenna Fischer, Judy Greer, Linda Cardellini, Lloyd Kaufman, NR