I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2007)
Runtime: 80 mins
Theatrical Release: Sep 5, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM star Jeff Garlin brings a pet project to the screen (Garlin is credited as director, star, screenwriter, and producer) with the fluffy romantic comedy I WANT SOMEONE TO EAT CHEESE WITH. The film is based on the exploits of an overweight, aging actor named James Aaron... CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM star Jeff Garlin brings a pet project to the screen (Garlin is credited as director, star, screenwriter, and producer) with the fluffy romantic comedy I WANT SOMEONE TO EAT CHEESE WITH. The film is based on the exploits of an overweight, aging actor named James Aaron (Garlin). James lives at home with his mom, has been overly picky about which roles he'll play (and therefore never gets any work beyond an awful job hosting a prank-related TV show), and has no luck with women. He also has a strange obsession with Ernest Borgnine's character in the 1955 Delbert Mann feature MARTY. But an aborted attempt at attending Overeaters Anonymous meetings leads the rotund actor to one of his favorite places, the ice cream parlor, where he enjoys a surprising flirtation with the cute-but-somewhat-unhinged Beth (Sarah Silverman). Garlin's brief, 80-minute long feature is strung along by a loose plot that is really just a CURB-style basis for the talented comic to deliver a series of jokes with his comedian friends. Supporting roles come from luminaries such as Amy Sedaris, Dan Castellaneta, Bonnie Hunt, and Gina Gershon among others, and while the humor sometimes delves into deliciously crude wisecracks, a genuine feeling of empathy for James simmers to the surface as the film reaches its final act. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Jeff Garlin, Bonnie Hunt, Sarah Silverman, David Pasquesi, Mina Kolb
DVD Info
Release:
Apr 15, 2008
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Widescreen
Audio:
- Unspecified - English
- Subtitles - Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - Jeff Garlin - Director
- Deleted Scenes
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Though the title could use some trimming too, the movie pulls off that delicate balancing act between creating a sympathetic big guy with a huge eating disorder, while keeping the fat jokes tastefully funny.
You have to like James and his outlook on life. It may not be glamorous, but it's one that eventually allows James a higher lever of satisfaction.
Cheese is such a small, endearing and well-observed piece -- sort of Curb Your Enthusiasm without the excruciating bits.
Despite Garlin’s chops and cameos from a who’s who of Second City alumni, the film can’t find a consistent comic groove.
Garlin wrote, directed, and stars in this endearing schlub-in-Chicago movie, which is based on his solo stage show of the same title.
Garlin's directing has little pacing, and many of the borderline gags could have been salvaged with some sharper editing. And there's a shocking amount of jokes and situations that just don't work.
Some of James' adventures go nowhere, but his encounters with females ... are loaded with humor and warmth.
It celebrates its modesty, it becomes our friend, we're surprisingly touched by it even though it doesn't rock us. If there is such a thing as a must-see three-star movie, here it is.
The cameos and local details, and even some of the gags, keep it perky.
..about as small as movies get, yet often, unexpectedly, as moving.
It may not exactly conform to what many people might expect to see from a current-day romantic comedy, it is one of the more satisfying examples of the genre to come along in recent months.
This is a film that can't quite decide if it wants to be a show-business spoof, a romantic comedy or an embarrassment comedy along the lines of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.
The movie has a strange tone... but there's a lot to admire here.
I’ve no clue how the world will take to I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. For Chicago, it’s a scrumptious, four-star banquet.
Garlin's clearly inspired by his own experiences living as someone who's fat and funny, but being honest isn't the same thing as being perceptive.
Somehow Garlin maintains a buoyant, humanistic tone throughout the parade of lonely humiliations. It's an endearing little movie with a great big heart.
You might wish this speed-limit-safe exercise in Woody Allen-esque urban romantic neuroses had taken jazzier comic risks.
Jeff Garlin, the former Second City actor who plays Larry David's manager on Curb Your Enthusiasm, has spun his solo show into a movie that's, alas, pretty light on laughs.
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With has the same conditional deals and loosely drawn sensibility as Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Related Forums

by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/21/07

by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/21/07

by: REEL_REVIEWER 9/21/07
Pictures
Trailers & Clips
Watch Now >>
News
posted by Rachel Sandor October 04, 2007
Written, produced, directed, and starring Jeff Garlin, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With shows us a softer side of the...


Top Critic