Brigsby Bear

Brigsby Bear is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed by Dave McCary in his feature directorial debut, and produced by The Lonely Island. The film stars Kyle Mooney, Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear, Matt Walsh, Michaela Watkins, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., and Ryan Simpkins. It revolves around James Pope (Mooney), a captive man rescued from an underground bunker where he obsessed over a children's television program titled Brigsby Bear Adventures. When he realizes the show was created by his fake father, he sets out to finish the storyline himself.

Mooney and Kevin Costello co-wrote the screenplay, from a story by Mooney. The film was inspired by McCary, Mooney, and Costello's middle school experiences making short films together, over a two to three-year period with a story stemming from Mooney's fascination with 1980s children's shows. Principal photography took place in Utah during Mooney and McCary's break from working on Saturday Night Live. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017, and was released on July 28, 2017, by Sony Pictures Classics.

Brigsby Bear received positive reviews from critics, who praised the script, direction, cast and art design; critics also commended the film's sentimental tone.

Plot
James (Kyle Mooney) lives in an underground bunker home with his parents Ted and April Mitchum (Mark Hamill and Jane Adams), whom he is forced to stay underground with. Ted tells James that the outside world is dangerous to them, and James often watches him leave the bunker with a gas mask on. James is fascinated with an educational children's show called Brigsby Bear as he owns every episode on VHS Tape and fills his room with memorabilia. One night, he sneaks out only to see several police cars approach the home. The police raid the bunker and James is taken away from Ted and April who are arrested.

James is brought to the police station and meets Detective Vogel (Greg Kinnear), an investigator. Vogel tells James that Ted and April are not his real parents, and that he has been held captive since he was a baby. He also informs James that Brigsby Bear is not real and was made by Ted, a former artist and designer who disappeared with his wife in 1987; Vogel explains that they tracked Ted from the studio where the show was made. Vogel introduces James to his real parents, Greg and Louise Pope (Matt Walsh and Michaela Watkins), and their teenage daughter Aubrey (Ryan Simpkins). Though they try introducing James to his new life, he can't stop thinking about Brigsby Bear.

One night, Aubrey takes James to a party. He meets Aubrey's friend Spencer (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) and later starts talking about Brigsby Bear to his new friends. This prompts him to come up with the idea to make a movie based on the character to close the series. He starts production after Detective Vogel, who sympathizes with James through Vogel's own early acting dreams, lends James some props from the show, and Spencer, being a filmmaker, agrees to make the movie with him. Spencer also advertises the movie by uploading episodes of Brigsby Bear to YouTube, where it gains popularity and a new audience. Greg and Louise do not approve of Jame's activities because they fear it hinders his chances of living a normal life.

While filming in a forest, James uses an explosive he made for a scene that detonates, surprising Spencer. The group is arrested but James takes the blame for it. The police release him, but confiscate the Brigsby Bear props once again. James takes his parent's car out one night to steal the costumes and props. He takes a detour first to his old underground home, now abandoned and cordoned off with yellow tape. James stops by a diner and discovers Whitney (Kate Lyn Sheil), the actress who played both Arielle and Nina Smiles in the show. She tells him that she never knew the true circumstances behind the side acting job, having been told by Ted Mitchum that it was for Canadian public access. As the police arrive outside, James asks Whitney to reprise her role for his film and admits that he had a longtime crush on her through the show.

James is placed in a mental institution. Meanwhile, Aubrey shows her parents parts of the movie, where the two realize that making the movie allowed him to spend time with his friends. One night, James breaks out of the institution to grab his belongings, but discovers his family, along with Spencer and Detective Vogel, building a Brigsby Bear set in their garage. They tell him that after they saw how happy he was behind the scenes, they agree to help out as well.

James later visits Ted in jail. James tells Ted about the movie and asks him to voice Brigsby in the film, which he does. James finishes the movie, with Detective Vogel playing the character Feldo Mortese and Whitney as the Smiles Sisters. On premiere night, the show is sold out and James is worried no one will like it, so he stays out of the theatre while the movie plays. When James walks into the theater, he is met with a standing ovation. James is happy that the film is a success. He looks over to the stage and sees Brigsby wave goodbye and disappear.

Cast

 * Kyle Mooney as James Pope
 * Mark Hamill as Ted Mitchum
 * Greg Kinnear as Detective Vogel
 * Matt Walsh as Greg Pope
 * Michaela Watkins as Louise Pope
 * Ryan Simpkins as Aubrey Pope
 * Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Spencer
 * Claire Danes as Emily
 * Beck Bennett as Deputy Bander
 * Alexa Demie as Merideth
 * Chance Crimin as Logan
 * Andy Samberg as Eric
 * Kate Lyn Sheil as Whitney / "Arielle and Nina Smiles"
 * Kiera Milan Hendricks as Young Smiles Sisters
 * Jane Adams as April Mitchum
 * Tim Heidecker as Actor in film
 * Nick Rutherford as Brigsby Bear fan

Production
Brigsby Bear was co-written by Kyle Mooney and Kevin Costello, and directed by Dave McCary. All three grew up in San Diego, California and attended middle school together. Mooney and McCary, alongside Beck Bennett and Nick Rutherford, later formed the sketch group Good Neighbor, and all joined the cast and crew of Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 2013–14. Mooney and Costello wrote the film over a two to three-year period. Much of the character of James comes from Mooney's personal life, which he considered obsessive, sometimes awkward, and always nostalgic. Whenever Costello and Mooney could write together, they would write fast and messy, with Costello polishing it while Mooney worked at SNL. Mooney was fascinated by children's television shows from the 1980s, which he felt combined "happy-go-lucky and positive meets the creepy, weird, and psychedelic." He and McCary both singled out Prayer Bear as a primary inspiration. Mooney collects VHS tapes from garage sales, which also fueled the movie's aesthetic.

Their pedigree at SNL allowed them to cast their film with big names like Mark Hamill, who plays Ted. McCary likened Ted's character to a depraved Jim Henson, "teaching weird lessons about the world in a loving way." He noted he and Costello both grew up in strict, Christian households, which colored the way they depicted the character. They hoped to have viewers intrigued by the retro nature of the bunker, which they infused with a "low-rent Splash Mountain" feel. McCary was largely responsible for the film's earnest and sometimes melancholy tone, which he felt serviced James's emotional journey in the film. For McCary, he had always hoped to direct something dramatic, as opposed to his more comedic material in the past. Part of James's journey in the film, including his fear that people will not enjoy his film, came from a genuine place for the filmmakers. In addition, when making the film, the filmmakers discovered that in many ways, they were documenting their friendship of creating videos together.

The film was shot in mid-2016 in Utah during Mooney and McCary's break from SNL. The Utah Film Commission put out a press release in June 2016 announcing that six films had been granted incentives to film in the state, including Brigsby Bear. They shot the film with a small, close-knit group and likened the experience to summer camp. After shooting the film, McCary had to complete editing while still working at SNL.

Release
The film premiered at the Eccles Theatre at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017. Shortly after, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film for $5 million, which was far higher than the film's budget. The team behind the film were very happy working with Sony Pictures Classics, noting that they wanted no edits made to the film and were on the same page regarding keeping the film's plot line a secret in marketing. The film's formal premiere was in New York on July 26, 2017 and was started its theatrical run on July 28, 2017. The film was released on DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital Download on November 14, 2017.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 140 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Audiences attuned to Brigsby Bear's strange frequency will be moved by its earnest – and endearingly original – approach to pop culture's impact and the creative urge." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 35 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Manohla Dargis from The New York Times summarized it as a "sweet and sometimes delightful melancholic story of a lonely man saved by imagination and love. That sounds like a bushel of cornball and might have devolved into pure ick if the director, Dave McCary, didn’t lead from the heart and wasn’t adept at navigating seemingly clashing tones." John DeFore at The Hollywood Reporter found it to be "a charming, surprisingly underplayed paean to pop-culture obsession." Geoff Berkshire of Variety praised every aspect of the film from its cast to script, but singled out "the art department and designers involved in creating both the world of the Brigsby show and the underground bunker where James grew up." Vulture's Emily Yoshida analyzed it as "asking much trickier questions than it would ever let on about the coddling effect of media and geek obsession, and the purging effect of storytelling."

Stephanie Merry from The Washington Post perceived the film's genuine tone as fresh: "[The film] never ventures into the caustic simply for the sake of comedy. These days, that’s refreshing. There aren’t many movies that value sweetness over cynicism." Conversely, David Sims of The Atlantic felt the movie ends up too "blandly optimistic," but felt it would not work another way: "It’s hard to fault Mooney and Costello for choosing the sweeter path—the movie is, after all, told through James’s eyes, and he has only the dimmest awareness of the wrongs that have been done to him over the years." The Boston Globe Tom Russo surmised "the [sincere] approach can be a reach, but on the whole it works better than you might guess." Entertainment Weekly Chris Nashawaty considered it a "slight, handcrafted indie that’s sweet, skewed, and feels a bit like a skit stretched out to feature length." David Ehrlich at IndieWire felt it veered into formula, concluding, "While too silly and open hearted to hate, Brigsby Bear begins with a premise that’s weird enough to be good, but settles for a weak trajectory that isn’t good enough to be weird." A.A. Dowd at The A.V. Club felt it could have been a "soulful fairy tale," but ended up "a quirky sitcom recovery fable about transforming our childhoods through art to overcome them." Leslie Felperin, writing for The Guardian, deemed it "overly whimsical," but also "likable enough, even if it contains precious few belly laughs."