Ty Watches "I'm Totally Fine"

Over the weekend my wife and I watched the movie "I'm Totally Fine". I heard about this movie while listening to "This is Important". This is the "Workaholics" guys podcast. I enjoy this podcast quite a bit. It is not a rewatch show. The guys get together once a week and just chat about life. They talk about past projects, their lives, Buzz Ball drinks and current projects. One of those current projects is "I'm Totally Fine".

Kyle Newachek and Blake Anderson are in the movie. Kyle Newachek is a producer. Harvey Guillen, who Newachek works with on "What We Do in the Shadows", has a bit part. But the stars of the movie are Jillan Bell, who was a main character on "Workaholics", and Natalie Morales, one of Bell's best friends. The movie has a fairly simple premise. Bell and Morales are best friends, they own a soda company and Morales' character suddenly passes away. Bell is left to grieve and spends a weekend on a getaway all by herself. She shows up at the AirBnb she is staying in and things kind of start to go nuts. Bell and Morales had a party planned on that weekend, but Bell forgot to cancel everything. They show up and she cannot get them to go away or not set up. So Bell is left to a bunch of food and party supplies. After a night of drinking, where she downs a full bottle of champagne, Bell falls asleep by a fire. While asleep, the lights in the house flicker and flutter and it gets windy and loud outside. When she wakes up she is groggy and hung over. She eventually drinks some water and clams down. While waking up someone hands her a coffee. She thanks the person using her best friend's name. She then fully wakes up and realizes she is seeing a person who looks exactly like her deceased friend. She starts to freak out. She believes she is hallucinating. She figures this is all in her head. The person who looks like her friend keeps telling her she is an alien who has come down to Earth to give her 48 final hours with her best friend. The alien has all of her memories and can communicate. Bell goes along with this thinking it is all in her head. But when she really dives in, she goes for it.

This is where the movie really grabbed me. I was hooked. To see the two of them go on adventures, have a party, tell secrets and revelations, it is all so well done. Bell and Morales have tremendous chemistry. You can tell they are friends in real life. Bell controls this whole movie. She is doing some of her best work. She handles this situation with her character in a very relatable way. She crushes it. Morales is so good as this alien. She talks like a typical alien the whole time. And while you think it would wear you down, it never does. She is so believable and does a wonderful job as an alien who is starting to have human emotions. Newachek and Anderson are there, but their parts are so small. This is Bell's movie and she nails it. Morales is there too, but Bell is the star. I loved watching her performance.

I've been thinking about this movie ever since Friday night. I have also thought about what I would do if this situation actually happened to me. If I was given 48 hours with a newly deceased. close friend, what would I do? They ask and answer this question so well in the movie. It is a tough, and deep question, but the way they handle it is tremendous.

I want more and more people to seek this movie out. I like small movies like this. The story is also unique and fresh. This is not a remake or a retelling. This is not a sequel. This is a fresh idea and a fresh movie. Check it out. Seek it out and check it out. It is really wonderful. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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An Ode to Jillian Bell and Her MVP Performance on "Workaholics"

I am rewatching "Workaholics" for the, what seems like, millionth time. I love this show. It is one of my all time favorites. I enjoy the comedy, like the acting and think it is one of the funniest shows of all time. Everyone on it is very good at their roles. But there is one actor who I think may be the unsung hero of it all. That actor is Jillian Bell.

Jillian Bell plays Jillian on the show and she is the best scene stealer and quite possibly the funniest person on the show. Every time she shows up I find myself laughing harder than normal. I did not notice this until very recently. On this most recent rewatch I am going through and doing my own personal best of. I pick out a few episodes when I turn it on that I love. These ones always hit. And whenever Jillian Bell shows up I get pumped. I was watching one yesterday and it really hit home how great she is.

In this particular episode TAC, the company they work for, is selling a new female based product. All of the male salesmen are horrible at their jobs so they get replaced by the women. The women crush it, mainly Jillian. The success goes to Jillian's head and she starts to treat Blake like an object. Seeing her go from such a sweet, nice person to this mean and vindictive salesperson is a masterclass. She is so funny and scary. When she reveals her tattoo, that whole scenario is magic. When she exclaims, "I need my first cup of coffee ever", I laugh harder each time. She does such a great job.

It is not just that one episode. When she runs for snack manager, that is a classic for fans of this show. When she tells the boys about a promotion, and the way she just blindly goes about her day, genius. When she and Blake get a cat and co parent, oh man, that is some kind of wonderful. When she helps out the guys with their backyard wrestling, that is awesome. I love when she has to take over the office because Alice is sick and it is a disaster. And only someone like Bell could pull this off so well. Her timing, the way she plays this character, her comedy, the line delivery, it is all top notch. I find myself constantly impressed.

I have seen a ton of other stuff that Jillian Bell has been in, and it is all good. I adore "Brittany Runs a Marathon". It is one of the few movies that have made me cry, and that is due to Bell's performance. She is awesome as the villain in "22 Jump Street". It is a true tour de force villain role for her. "Sword of Trust" is an indie favorite of mine, and she is great. "Idiotsitter" is a highly underrated comedy and she was clutch on that show. She is probably the only funny part in "Fist Fight". I loved her in "The Night Before". Bell is a great actor. But it is her work on "Workaholics" that introduced me to her and it is my favorite thing she has done. I do want to see her new movie, "I'm Totally Fine", but I do not think it will be better than "Workaholics".

Seriously, go check out Jillian Bell’s work on this show. She is amazing and really took this role and ran with it. Anyone that can deliver a line, "I'm looking like a boss though, in head to toe Costco" is going to have a special place in my heart. Jillian Bell crushed it as Jillian on "Workaholics".

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Better Late Than Never on "Brittany Runs a Marathon"

Yesterday I finished watching “Brittany Runs a Marathon”. It took me two days, but it’s not because I was bored by it, and figured I should finish it. Quite the opposite. I loved this movie. I felt like it was very relatable, especially the running stuff, to my experience. The only reason it took me two days, I have two kids, and they had zero interest in watching with me. If it doesn’t have super heroes, Pokémon, Minecraft, Barbie or Ryan from “Ryan’s Mystery Play Date”, my kids could care less.

As I said, was super impressed by every part of this movie. This was another one that I wanted to see in theaters, but couldn’t find the time. I was also intrigued because my buddy that I run with said he liked it, and thought I would to. He had good taste, and I usually watch most of what he recommends. When I turned the movie on it was already in my head that is was going to be good, so I’m glad that it hit, and exceeded, my personal expectations.

Jillian Bell is a great comedic actress, so to see her in a role that was more dramatic, I was pleasantly surprised at how good she was. She truly embodies the character of Brittany. From her partying days, to trying to get fit, to struggling personally and athletically, to getting her life together, I was in for all of it. I do want to point out how realistic, and how relatable, her running journey was in the movie. I am a person who was, at one time, a pretty big dude. I’m still big, but not as big as I was about 7 years ago. I took up running because it is a free sport, as long as you have shoes, and you can do it all year round. My favorite line in the movie, Brittany is at a gym, the trainer says something to her about the pricing for a membership, and she says, “you know I can just go outside and run for free, right?”. My running friends, my friends and myself, we say this all the time. It’s such a true statement. Sure, I’m part of a gym, but when given the option, I choose running nearly 100 percent of the time. When that line was spoken, I was completely on board. To see her go from that point, to starting running, again, easily relatable. When she tells herself just to make it a few blocks, and it’s a struggle, I had the same thing. It was so hard that first time I decided to run as well. From there, everything was relatable. The first time she runs two miles, and feels that joy and endorphin rush, same here. When she decides to run the NYC marathon, and starts her training, I did the same, only for a half marathon. When she runs and converses with her new friends, that’s one of my favorite things to do when I run with other people. When she starts to lose weight and feel good about herself, I went through the exact same thing with my family and friends. The injury portion from the movie, I’m currently learning how to pace myself and not re injure a minor knee injury I currently have. When she is told she can’t run for 8 weeks, I felt so bad for her, and Bell played that perfectly. The only thing I didn’t do that she does in the movie, I’ve never neglected myself from friends. I’ve never retreated into myself that much. But, again, Bell does it great in the movie. And when she’s finally healthy, and runs the NYC marathon a year later, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I choked up a bit, and some tears may have been shed.

Look, for where I’m at in my life right now as a runner, and yes, I am a runner, this movie came at the perfect time for me personally. I know I’ve only talked about Bell, but that’s rightfully so. This is one hundred percent her movie. Everyone else is good, but Bell shines. Also, I say again, I totally related to her journey. I feel like anyone could watch this movie and enjoy it, but I feel like runners will appreciate it a bit more. I don’t know if that sounds weird, or if I’m saying that you have to be a runner to like it, which you don’t. But I think if you are a runner, or a person simply trying to better yourself, you will get much more out of this movie.

I cannot recommend “Brittany Runs a Marathon” more. I think it’s a great movie, and will really speak to the runner in everyone. Go seek this movie out. It’s very good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.