I didn’t have high hopes for “Unplugging” since Eva Longoria (“Desperate Housewives,” “Devious Maids”) is the biggest name in it and she hasn’t spearheaded a film since the early 2000s, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this charming little chuckle of a film by the end.
This film works because the mostly well-cast ensemble of actors have great comic timing and chemistry and just make each other better together, much like last year’s “Werewolves Within,” which was severely underrated both as a comedy and a horror film. Similarly, “Unplugging” often mimics a horror film, but never quite goes there.
Jeannie and Dan live a fast-paced married life where everything is done either online or on their phones, leaving no time for each other or their young daughter. A sudden death in their circle causes Dan to book an “unplugged” weekend in the wilderness for the couple that turns out to be more than either of them planned on.
The audience knows the premise and the foregone conclusion all too well before even getting into the film, but it still manages to be unexpected and enjoyable enough for some light watching.
Debra Neil-Fisher makes her feature debut as a director with “Unplugging,” but she is an Emmy award-winning editor who has been around Hollywood for decades, which may be why she was able to assemble the talent in the film.
Longoria’s foil/husband is “Unplugging” writer Matt Walsh (“Veep,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), whose clever, off-beat dialog can’t help but elicit at least a giggle now and then. Keith David (“Community,” “ER”) adds just the right amount of crazy as a larger-than-life rural bartender, but Lea Thompson (“Back to the Future,” “Switched at Birth,” “Howard the Duck”) is the fore-mentioned poorly cast against type actor in the ensemble as a mountain prepper who only made me laugh because she’s so comically bad (she even has a raccoon co-pilot named Lulu).
Dan and Jeannie are of course eventually inspired to reconnect with nature and each other after encountering the too-friendly barkeep, potty mouth prepper, and a superfluous amount of taxidermy.
Though everything in their remote area loses power and mysterious drones evoke conspiracy theories about the government, China and EMPs, the couple is able to deepen the bond of their relationship. This happens first by reminiscing about their love and themselves including singing duets, dancing and playing a weird game of celebrity job impressions, then by pitting them against the world and each other seemingly for their very (comical) survival, then in the end, by finally addressing long overdue issues (partially due to some marijuana berries).
In short, if a little backwoods tasering for comic effect and perhaps the first on-screen role reversal of the now cliché oral-sex-while-driving scene sound funny to you, you might be quirky enough to connect with this material.
Simonie Wilson, whose love of movies began as a child in the ’70s going to drive-ins with her family, has been a resident of the Northland for more than a decade. She is a board member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and a Women Film Critics Circle member. She can be reached online at www.facebook.com/RedVineReviewer.
