Seth Rogan | A Screenwriters Perspective: Current and Past Movies.

When it comes to screenwriting, the number one mantra has always been, “This is a movie, not a novel, show don’t tell”. The new movie “The Invite”, directed by Olivia Wilde, written by Cesc Gay, Will McCormack, Rashida Jones, and starring only four actors, Seth Rogen(Joe), Olivia Wilde(Angela), Penélope Cruz (Piña), and Edward Norton (Hawk) – the entire movie takes place in one small New York City apartment – violating all aspects of the show don’t tell rule. Movies like this one, which is a well-done dialogue-only movie, prove that the show don’t tell rule should never be applied to all types of films.

The story starts with a married couple, Joe and Angela, who have who face many extreme marital problems, beginning with nonstop arguing and disagreements that continue through the first 20% of this film. The arguments start with Angela inviting two guests over for dinner, who are neighbors in their apartment building. Angela insists that she told Joe days ago that this dinner would be happening, and Joe does not remember this conversation – starting the “you never listen to me” standard marriage argument. Almost all of Joe and Angela’s arguments are petty and ridiculous, which adds a strong element of comedy to this mostly comedic movie. By the time the guests arrive, Angela and Joe are still in extreme argument mode, which, for the rest of this story, which is almost 100% dialogue, mutates into arguments with their guests, finding out who they are, what they do for a living, and why Pina and Hawk really came over for dinner this evening.

This movie would never have worked if the dialogue and acting throughout this 1 hour and 47 minute unusual film were not so well done. The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are too high at 97% for a film like this, with my rating a solid 85% and a recommendation.

While watching the new movie “Good Fortune”, which has a lot to do with people who live at the edge of homelessness, I was thinking that the writer/director of this film Aziz Ansari, knows about this life from his years as a struggling Indian stand-up comedian. Aziz also plays the lead role in this story, Arj, whose life is a disaster of living in very bad Motels, sleeping in his car, and working odd jobs that even include standing in line for hours for other people to get concert tickets and even hard-to-get popular food.

Arj majored in film and documentary editing, guaranteeing him a difficult career trying to make a living within a field where the opportunity for any job is almost nonexistent. Much of this story is hard to watch, understanding the risk Ansari took in attempting to make squalor and financial desperation funny. Arj lives in run-down Motel rooms and far too often has to sleep in his car; none of this is ever funny.

This movie comes off like a combination of “It’s A Wonderful Life” (1946) and “Trading Places(1983). Keanu Reeves plays the angel in this story, named Gabriel, trying to save the life of Arj, and later his very wealthy friend Jeff, played by Seth Rogan. It turns out that Gabriel tries to teach Arj that his horrible life of no money is still worth living, by swapping the lives of Jeff and Arj, a very similar idea to Trading Places.

The good part of this story is how Ansari demonstrates the huge contrasts between a life of absolutely nothing and another life that has no boundaries. The parts that are off about this story are that it is too erratic, slow, and at times strange – almost as if the screenwriter was trying to make the movie two hours long regardless of the sequences of scenes making enough sense. The character Elena, played by Keke Palmer, works for a Home Depot-like company and tries to start a Union to help the many employees who are not being treated fairly. Her off-and-on again relationship with Arj, at times, seems more like filler to make the film two hours.

Some of the messages and statements in this movie about how unfair life is, and the differences between the lives of people who have everything and those who are on the edge of suicide and despair because they have no money, are brilliant. The best example of this is at the end of this film, with a speech from Jeff, who announces new rules in dealing with the delivery employees of his company when he says, “Enough of us getting rich off the misery of other people”. Another harsh reality of life, when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the main reason is that rich people have no empathy for those who live at the bottom of the world.

This film has numerous excellent messages about good and evil, rich and poor, and despite this, this film is receiving middle-of-the-road, below-average ratings of only 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is because of the erratic storytelling and scenes that seem more like filler than advancing the story. My rating is a solid 80% for some of the humor, acting, and the overall message, which is very well conveyed.