If I hadn’t known that C.O.G. was based on an essay by humor writer David Sedaris, I might have mistaken it for the world’s most twisted Hallmark movie.
After all, the title stands for “child of God,” and the main character does go on something of a spiritual journey.
Thankfully, it isn’t a Hallmark movie at all but an off-kilter coming-of-age story – one that, unfortunately, doesn’t quite hit home.
Written and directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, the film follows “David” (Glee’s Jonathan Groff), an Ivy League grad on a pilgrimage to “get his hands dirty” on an apple farm in Oregon.
Of course, nothing goes quite as planned, and he finds himself in the middle of an even bigger existential crisis than the one he started with.
The biggest problem with the film is that although we’re watching David’s story unfold, we’re not really learning anything about him.
I’m guessing that some of that information was included in the narration of Sedaris’ original essay. While narration using those written words probably would have been too heavy-handed, it would have been nice if Alvarez had given us a little more to go on.
It also might have helped Groff create more of a three-dimensional character, because as it stands, he doesn’t have much to do except stand there and look befuddled.
He’s just not all that interesting, especially compared to the supporting cast, including Corey Stoll as a deeply troubled factory worker and Denis O’Hare as a an artist with serious temper issues.
They’re not necessarily better actors, but they’re given meatier material to work with, making it even more difficult to care about David’s plight.
All in all, C.O.G. isn’t particularly funny, but it isn’t really anything else, either, which makes it a bit of a bore. Had Alvarez brought more of Sedaris’ unique voice to the film, it might have turned out differently.
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