Don’t Think Twice is a dramedy set in the world of comedy. Six artists of varying talent have formed an improvisational comedy troupe. They’re scraping by without much affirmation and with no financial success when one of them gets a chance to join the cast of a hit show a la Saturday Night Live. How do they react when only one attains the stardom that they all crave?
The comic Mike Birbiglia wrote and directed Don’t Think Twice about a world that he knows well. Like his previous Sleepwalk with Me, Don’t Think Twice is smart, funny and filled with authentic human reactions.
Here are the questions that Don’t Think Twice explores. When is “following your dream” an excuse for staying comfortable? When is it delusional? When is it an excuse to sabotage your own success? And when does following your dream keep you from following a more promising dream? When do you call it off?
Keegan-Michael Key and Gillian Jacobs flash the best performances, but the entire troupe is watchable. Generously, Birbiglia plays the least sympathetic character himself. Birbiglia, who is in real life a brilliant comic, is up to the challenge of playing someone whose talent just falls short.
Key is half of Comedy Central’s Key and Peele, creators of the hilarious viral sketches Obama’s Anger Translator and East/West College Bowl (Ozamataz Buckshank!).
Because it is about very funny people who work in comedy, Don’t Think Twice is very witty. It’s also packed with moments of Cringe Humor, and we’re cringing because we’ve seen these behaviors in our own lives. This is another good little movie by Mike Birbiglia.