Before we delve into my nakedly clickbaity title it seems that Inside Out 2 may indeed keep Pixar afloat for the forseeable future. Taking the top spot in this weeks Box Office Round up:
- Inside Out 2 (Weekend Gross £11.3 million)
- Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Weekend Gross £1.9 million)
- IF (Weekend Gross £729,673)
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Weekend Gross £389,000)
- The Garfield Movie (Weekend Gross £354,829)
Inside Out 2's £11.3 million makes it the biggest opening weekend of 2024, ahead of Dune 2's £9.3 million. It's proof that there is still an audience for Pixar's high-standard of emotive (in multiple senses) storytelling, even if they were once led astray by Disney's attempt to prioritise its streaming service. The continued high performance of Bad Boys speaks to tha lack of adult-targeted action fare right now, which will hopefully change with the arrival of Deadpool and Wolverine. The other notable result is the absence of Furiosa, less than a month after its opening weekend, cementing George Miller's intense actioner as a box office dud, regardless of its quality.
Rachel Sennott Used to Be Funny
Rachel Sennott Used to Be Funny
Love her or hate her Rachel Sennott is one of the rising stars of American film and telvision at this moment. Starting out on the New York open mic scene the young comedian quickly turned to internet comedy where she developed the 'Messy Girl' persona that would become a staple of her career. The kind of girl who is prone to high drama, even of the ugly and unpleasant variety. It's the kind of character that has been raomanticised for laughs in shows like New Girl, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and even Broad City. However Sennott's interpretation has no romantic pretense, in her world the Messy Girl is the butt of the joke or, even more damingly, a figure of pity. She would go on to create two shows for Comedy Central with regular collaborator Ayo Edebiri, the two having met at NYU. One of which 'Rachel and Ayo Are Single' solidified the Messy Girl as Sennott's primary onscreen persona as well as her working relationship Edebiri.
It was a persona that served her well in 2020's Shiva Baby, an adaptation of a short film directed by Emma Seligman. It was a darkly funny take on the cringeworthy consequences of being an impulsive, disorganised mess of a woman. Seeing Sennot's character struggling to navigate a family funeral when both her ex-girlfriend and current sugar daddy are in attendance. After several years of internet infamy and smaller screen work Shiva Baby would be the film that propelled Sennot into the mainstream film conciousness. With the unintended result that audiences exclusively saw her as the Messy Girl she had been portraying.
This was a label that followed her into her next feature film role Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, where once again she played up the insufferable appleal of the Messy Girl. Playing one member of a party of obnoxious rich kids who's own stupidity leads them to become trapped in a horror movie scenario. Her character Alice is a pitch perfect interpretation of a wannabe millenial influencer, a podcaster coasting off inherited wealth and looking to her friends for validation and clicks. While Shiva Baby was intended as a relateable situation in which her persona would garner sympathy, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies was all about vengeful catharsis. You are supposed to hate characters like Alice and her vapid, self-indulgent friends and relish in the sight of them turning on each other as the prestence of a potential killer only ramps up their insecurities and paranoia.
Unsuprisingly it didn't work for everyone. We all have our limits and the quality of Sennott's work heavily depended on howmuch time you were willing to spend with deeply dislikable characters. This is one of the reasons I've never been keen on Benedict Cumberbatch's interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, who was consistently difficult to tolerate for 90 minutes. For me, Sennott's appeal hit a ceiling in 2023's Bottoms, ironically the film that reunited her both with Seligman and Edebiri. Granted a queer comedy about two girls starting a fight club under false pretenses in order to attract their high school crushes was a difficult needle to thread. Hower Seligman had form with dark comedy and Bottoms promised to be a send-up of the kind of sleazy antics we'd seen teenage boys get up to in years prior.
In the end though Bottoms turned out (IMO) to be a creative misfire. In part because Sennott's character of PJ is such a paper-thin interpretation of what she can do. A try-hardy queer high schooler willing to do anything, no matter how sketchy or degrading to attract a completely disinterested love interest. A lead character can be unlikable, a character can be utterly pathetic, a character can even be utterly incapable but all those traits together make for an off-putting combination. Especially when both traits are in pursuit of an obviously misguided end.
However one misfire isn't worth writing off Sennott as a talent completely. Whatever I might think, Bottoms has its fans and it hasn't stopped Sennott from continuing her ascent. Popping up in the high profile trainwreck The Idol and having lined up a role in the Italian historical drama Finally Dawn, which is currently doing the festival rounds. Regardless of how either project turned out it seems clear that the young comedian is seeking a broader range of work that can establish her as an actress beyond her Messy Girl origins.
More pertinently 2024 sees the release of her latest, and most autobiographical work I Used to be Funny. Centered on stand up comedian struggling with PTSD caught up in a family crisis. Sennott has been very candid about her own history of performing stand-up, quitting because of the innate feeling that she was being 'laughted at' rather than 'laughed with'. I Used to be Funny clearly demonstrates a willingness to explore the psychological difficulties of being a modern-day jester. Something few comedians-turned-actors would be willing to do.
Yes, Rachel Sennott used to be funny and clearly still is. More importantly she's willing to be funny in a way that speaks sharply on the modern day reality of being a woman, being Jewish and being the object of amusement for millions of people. She can walk the line between comedy and drama easily enough to make her a darling of the indie scene. What the future will tell us is if she can translate that into mainstream success.
