Andrew Bujalski's "Results"

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Two mismatched personal trainers’ lives are upended by the actions of a new, wealthy client.

Andrew Bujalski released Results to a flurry of appreciative critical responses: finally, he has made something “accessible.” Switch “accessible” with “boring” and I’ll happily agree. It’s important for movies to be made that everyone can enjoy, because just like the idea of committing to regular exercise scares us into woofing comfort food, challenging cinema can send some running to the concession stand for a reprieve. Computer Chess, Bujalski’s 2003 mockumentary about a chess tournament between computers, is his most quirky and ambitious (and for my money, his best), and just as much about characters as his previous efforts like Mutual Appreciation or Funny Ha Ha. But it strives for something more than post-grad fear and the drudgery of complicated romantic encounters. And I struggle to understand why we should encourage against this. If the stark singularity of Computer Chess rubbed people the wrong way, Results is an apology that only makes things worse.

Creating a crowd pleasing form of romantic comedy doesn’t take away from Bujalski’s stylistic oomph. He has already displayed a knack for indie rom com in his previous works. Ditching their amplified amateurism leaves us with Results, a simpler, sloppier film; easier to swallow without chewing. Gillian Robespierre’s 2014 indie rom com, Obvious Child, cavalierly championed abortion rights; overtly political while also maintaining a goofy, light-hearted tone. I thought of it, because it is a far more interesting film than Results without being dishonest to the indie rom com (it even had a couple of recognizable stars–David Cross and Richard Kind–to anchor it in pop culture). Though Bujalski brings Albert Brooks to mind (Brooks tested the limits of love by pitting it against the unruly neuroticism of his characters, Bujalski doing some of the same), Bujalski isn’t the pure funny man Brooks is, or a firebrand like Robespierre (critic Wesley Morris likened Results to a different Brooks, likening Results to James L. Brooks’ Broadcast News in his gushing and thorough review, but it works for me, too, because I think Broadcast News stinks). What Bujalski hangs his hat on is everything his characters aren’t saying, but in a rom com as unprovocative as Results, maybe he should make them say something from the soul for once.

Danny (Kevin Corrigan), a New Yorker fresh off a devastating divorce, has inherited a large sum of money from his dead mother, and travels to Austin, Texas, to get it. After arriving he decides to buy a mansion and stay. Knowing his weakness for weed, pizza and depression, he joins a gym and signs up for a couple years of home training sessions. This is when we meet Trevor (Guy Pearce), the owner of the gym, and Kat (Cobie Smulders), Trevor’s hardheaded employee.

Danny’s relationship with Trevor and Kat turns from disruptive to serendipitous, but it isn’t a seamless transition, and Danny’s relevance fizzles to fulfilling a punchline from an earlier gag. Danny is introduced to us as in peril, suffering mental anguish that needs drowning in destructive indulgences. That he has all this money is enough reason to indulge. Trevor and Kat, too, are clams until they aren’t. I’m not sure their pain is anywhere close to what Danny is dealing with, but then again, I’m not enticed to care, laugh, or even leave the theater.

Kevin Corrigan is like a bizarro Kevin James—he’s the leading comic relief, only he looks like he doesn’t give a shit. Played with aplomb by Pearce and Smulders, Trevor and Kat still make for a boring couple. All of the characters need each other, because not one is interesting to consider on their own. But rom coms–indie or not–have featured thin characters for years. The bigger issue, once we get past all the pomp and circumstance of it being a more “professional” project, is an existential one: Results isn’t Bujalski-fied, failing to flash the potential that made critics compare him to John Cassavetes. Forget the pressure of being the next Cassavetes. It’s healthy to confront what it really means to be Andrew Bujalski.