LolliLove (2004)

Wonderful character development!

Good concept, poorly executed.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Boring

So somebody thought it would be funny to make an hour-long mockumentary out of lollipops for the homeless.The attempts at humor are very predictable and way too implausible and over the top in their real-world type documentary setting. And again, who thought it would be funny or even remotely interesting to follow the creation of a lollipop for the homeless? I also can't obviously understand why that would be a funny concept? I don't find anything edgy about thinking some rich people are so far gone that they'd do this, not even in the realm of parody, I can't understand it. This might be funny if somebody actually had done such lollipop campaign. I didn't laugh once, I had just a bewildered look and felt second-hand embarrassment.The camera work is bad, the picture quality is home video like, the aspect ratio is grandma's-TV.By the way, a terrible lollipop/movie title.

I watched this nine years after it was made; i.e., post Jenn Fischer fame. Although nothing daring or inventive (Hollywood airheadedness has been spoofed since...well, Hollywood.) Gunn and Fischer play off one another so very well and manage to come off marginally believable in a satire that is decidedly unbelievable. Interestingly, the use of profanity is put to great effect to contrast people who have deluded themselves yet momentarily step into the real world and therein swear like sailors. Had you asked me in 2004 I'd have guessed Gunn would be the one placed in a hit TV show, though Fischer shows some real acting chops here (in fairness, THE OFFICE never challenges Jenn). In contrast to one of the COMMENTERS suggestion that LOLILLOVE might have been made longer to achieve feature length, I think editing off 10 or fifteen minutes would better serve the work. Would like to see these two in another spoof though that'll never happen as they were married when LOLLILOVE was made but are now divorced. I'm wondering if the wedding footage in LOLLILOVE was the real thing.

"That the lollipops of Lollilove may propel homeless people to going out and do something good with their lives. Feeling good about themselves. Perhaps getting a job. Maybe using birth control."Lollilove is a pretty funny flick, but in a very dark way. Jenna Fisher must have quite the black sense of humor to write something like this, because many of the jokes cross the "politically correct" line in a way that you'd expect from Sarah Silverman, not from the angel-faced woman that so many people have become fans of because of The Office.This mockumentary follows a vapid, shallow, wealthy couple (played by Jenna and her ex-husband), who feed their own vanity by coming up with an absurd scheme to help the homeless...by founding a charity named Lollilove. A charity that aims to inspire and help those living on the streets by giving them a lollipop every week. Lollipops with (supposedly) life-changing artwork and slogans written on custom (and very expensive) wrappers. The story follows them trying to procure a corporate sponsor and funding to get their "charity" up and running, and then we see them and a few of their friends put their plan into action. The relationship of the couple also gets tested by the strain of their efforts, and starts to deteriorate as Lollilove comes together.As I said, this is a pretty dark comedy. You have to have a specific sense of humor to "get" it. When the jokes work, they work very well (the homeless man that confronts Jenna with his..."desires" near the end left my side hurting from laughing), but there are also some that fall flat. Still, for such a low budget production, I though Lollilove was fairly impressive. At the very least, fans of Fisher should check it out.

Directed by and starring Jenna Fischer who most people will know from her role in the American version of The Office TV series. Her very natural acting abilities make it very easy to forget that the documentary LolliLove you are watching, is actually a skillfully scripted and directed film. Fischer wrote her directorial debut with Peter Alton and (uncredited) her real-life husband James Gunn (writer of the Scooby Doo films, Dawn of the Dead remake and Tromeo and Juliet and writer/director of Slither) . Gunn also plays her husband in the film as well, and as he has shown briefly in Tromeo & Juliet, his acting is of the same lifelike quality as Jenna's. Lollilove is about those people who try to do the right thing by devoting themselves to a charity project for all the wrong reasons and without any genuine knowledge or understanding of the badly treated individuals in our society they try to help, and even worse so: without any interest in them apart from the opportunity to show off as a better person themselves. And the saddest thing is that they don't even know or realize this themselves. A very dark comedy that is never too funny and sometimes gut-wrenchingly showing the mental poverty of those who are looked upon as being well off. With this film as her debut as a film director, it should only be common sense to be confident that Jenna Fischer has a rich career ahead of her. The feature film is done justice with a rich collection of extra's on Troma's DVD presentation that would make Criterion proud. A very informative and entertaining audio-commentary by Fisher and Gunn with Peter Alton and producer Stephen Blackeheart (100 million BCfriends, a very detailed behind the scenes documentary and a rich collection of deleted scenes and interviews with the Gunns, but also historic film introductions with James Gunn and Stephen Blackeheart from various Troma films, exclusive footage from the set of James Gunn's Slither and much more. Also starring Linda Cardellini (E.R., Broke Back Mountain), Jason Segel (CSI), Joan M. Blair (Donnie Darko, E.R.), Lloyd Kaufman (Terror Firmer) and many more, this is a star studded film that would have been a huge hit if it wasn't released by a blacklisted small independent film studio. Do yourself a favor and see this film. Buy it. Enjoy it. Highly recommended!