Don’t Tell Larry
Having won 'Employee of the Year" for eight years running, Good Lakes Cruises' Susan (Patty Guggenheim) is on the cusp of becoming CEO as promised by her boss, Bruce (Ed Begley Jr.). But right before the retirement party she's planned for him, Bruce hires a very strange guy with no experience in the travel industry and, wishing to keep her party on track, Susan makes a move that begins a downward spiral when she tells her colleague Patrick (Kenneth Mosley), "Don't Tell Larry."
Laura's Review: D
A little white lie to a guy who immediately declares the woman who's deceived him and the colleague aiding in the cover-up his 'best friends' is the genesis of what's being sold as a 'dark comedy,' perhaps because star Begley Jr. ends up dead within the first ten minutes. But while that may account for the 'dark,' the 'comedy' aspect is a mystery because "Don't Tell Larry" features about twenty misses for every joke that lands. That may be generous.
Susan is ambitious and perky, introduced bringing coffee for herself and her boss into his office to discuss her latest success when suddenly both her agenda and her coffee are commandeered, her boss, who shares his office with his black cat Pumpkin, oddly enamored of Larry (Ed Helms type Kiel Kennedy), who he's invited to take a coffee. After a rather dull looking retirement party, Bruce discovers Susan didn't invite Larry and fires her, making Larry CEO. Susan picks up an object from his desk and throws it, cracking the glass wall behind him. When Larry's called in, the next thing we know, Bruce has fallen out of what is now a large hole in the glass and, because only Susan knew she'd been fired, she assumes the CEO position. She also tells Larry that it was Bruce who didn't invite him to the retirement party. Then corporate legal guy Cody (Heath Allyn) informs the office that with no one having officially been names CEO, it is up to him to name one.
Writer/director/producers Greg Porper and John Schimke twist themselves into knots trying to make this funny, but the comedy is labored, featuring such nonsense as Larry arriving the day after Bruce's death wearing a black fur hat, leading Susan and Patrick to jump to the conclusion his hat was once Pumpkin. The smoking of a joint results in urine samples being collected and...don't ask. There is a somewhat amusing coincidence in Susan's recent lover being the wife of the detective, Kim (Dot-Marie Jones), who is assigned to the case (making a big deal out of the difference in culpability between the glass 'cracker' and the 'pusher,' another labored bit). Patrick's obsession with child TV star Jake Jacobson (Billy Blair) has a decent payoff and a running gag with a workplace influencer evokes a chuckle or two, but otherwise we feel the movie's strain. Larry, who has been a clueless idiot with a raisin obsession throughout, suddenly is wily enough to think about and locate a security camera hard drive and an unexpected aspect of his personality is revealed, because throw things at the wall to see what sticks appears to be the strategy here.
About half of the cast overacts as the other half tries to keep things on course, Jones and Mosley best at approximating real human beings. Almost all of the action occurs at a generic midwestern office park which is perhaps fitting for a movie that plays like a rejected sitcom pilot. Comedy may be subjective but "Don't Tell Larry" sets a very low bar.
Robin's Review: D
Susan (Patty Guggenheim) revels in the fact that she has been employee of the year at Good Lakes Travel for eight years straight. She is sure, when her boss Bruce (Ed Begley Jr.) retires soon, that the CEO job is hers. Then, he tells her he is hiring the bastard son he has never met and promoting him to company head. This does not sit well with the ambitious young woman in “Don’t Tell Larry.
Co-directors and co-writers Greg Porper and John Schimke create what I can only call a “situation comedy” where the situations are strung together in a series of increasing failures in getting rid of Larry. It starts when Susan “neglects” to invite new guy Larry to Bruce’s retirement party and, when found out, goes to increasing lengths to cover up her “omission,” dragging in her workmate Patrick (Kenneth Mosely).
What makes this story implausible, to say the least, is Larry. He is a singularly strange individual, possibly capable of cold blooded murder, who is searching for his father. The reasoning for the rekindled (though, not) father/son bond (that never existed) just makes no sense – especially since Bruce declared his “son’s” promotion without knowing a thing about him. This kind of forced manufacture of situations is just plain sloppy writing. And, it is not even funny.
Things proceed in sitcom manner with one snag or another screwing up Susan’s plans. The problem is, the main characters garner no sympathy and, often, disdain, as the “power struggle” hits its peak. And, I did not laugh. That’s bad.
Level 33 Entertainment releases "Don't Tell Larry" in select theaters and on VOD on 6/20/23.
