Don't Think Twice

Feminist Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀

Overall Rating: ✮✮✮✮

Don’t Think Twice is a quirky little indie comedy about struggling improve performers in New York City. Their world is exactly like our own except instead of Saturday Night Live, the popular weekend sketch comedy show is called Weekend Live. This rag tag group of performers are trying to make it big while working part time jobs restaurants and supermarkets and living in small dingy apartments.

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This movie appealed to me because it reminds me of my life. I’m no stranger to the starving artist aesthetic (because of necessity not fashion). The characters are all flawed, funny, and interesting individuals and their struggle, heartbreak, failure, and success is very familiar. Their drive, determination, love for their art are things every artist understands.

But let’s be honest for a minute. Improv can be kind of annoying but only when it’s done incorrectly…which is most of the time. But the cast is genuinely funny, talented, and entertaining so it’s definitely not as irritating as an improv show at your local comedy club. Most of your favorite comedians were a part of an improv group at some point before their careers took off so it’s hard to actually dislike the medium as a whole.  

Okay, so the movie is good, we get it—now onto feminism.

It passes the Bechdel Test: good. The female characters have their own narrative arcs: good. There are no women of color in dominant roles: bad. Points off for that.

The three female characters are relatively well written. They have their own identities, flaws, and talents. Sam (Gillian Jacobs) is, for the most part, tied to Keegan-Michael Key's character, Jack. They’re in a romantic relationship and their arcs are very much tied to each other but it is obvious that they are their own characters. Jacobs does not play the part of the angry, sniveling, concerned wife/girlfriend character but instead she has her own goals, struggles, and identity that are different than his and that is made very clear.

Unfortunately, the movie mostly focuses on the male characters’ problems and the women are mostly there to comfort the men or to get angry at them. Miles (Mike Birbiglia) definitely has the most complicated and nuanced issues which definitely makes him the most

interesting of the characters but it also makes him extremely unlikeable. He directed the movie and wrote the screenplay so it makes sense that it would focus on his character but it is worth noting that he is continuously self-deprecating. Honestly, if I were directing a movie in which I also starred, I would be careful not to make myself too much of a hero too. However, regardless of the obnoxiousness of his character, the movie focuses on his issues a lot.

What's frustrating from a feminist point of view, is that the male characters are the ones who get the best roles and the most emotional story arcs. Jack gets his dream role while struggling to keep up with his personal life, Miles has complicated issues with intimacy, inferiority, and jealousy, and Bill (Chris Gethard) deals with the passing of his father and his feelings of failure. The females, on the other hand, are given no such emotional range. Allison (Kate Micucci) struggles with completing her graphic novel, Sam deals with her boyfriend Jack becoming successful and busy, and Lindsey (Tami Sagher) is just too rich and sad.

The actresses do a spectacular job with the material they’re given, I just wish that they had been given more to work with. So, to sum up, the movie feels very real for the most part when it comes to the character’s emotional issues but not necessarily when it comes to the events in their lives. The fact that all of these performers are all vying for the same chance on one singular TV show is a little absurd. Surely there are other roles for the rest of them in a sprawling city such as Manhattan. Putting that thought aside, it does make sense that the movie would focus solely on this one dream role and how each of the characters respond to their friend getting the chance of a lifetime. As far as feminism, the movie may star talented and funny women but it does not exactly do them justice.