The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Thursday, April 14, 2016 — 5

Teller and Kendrick 
make a terrible film

By RACHEL RICHARDSON

Daily Arts Writer

Remember those kids in high 

school who, despite being given 
all the tools for success, refused 
to put forth 
an 
effort 

to make a 
decent proj-
ect? Whose 
final 
prod-

ucts 
ended 

up being so 
god-awful 
they 
must 

have exerted effort to make 
them that horrible? It seems 
that these kids maintained their 
passion for awfulness, moved to 
Hollywood and produced “Get 
a Job.”

From the giveaway title to 

the 
rudimentary 
dialogue, 

there’s no question as to what 
this film is about. “Get a Job” 
details the struggles of Will 
(Miles 
Teller, 
“Whiplash”) 

as he tries to improve life for 
himself and his girlfriend Jil-
lian (Anna Kendrick, “Pitch 
Perfect”) by seeking employ-
ment as a videographer. Will is 
a pathetic excuse for a human 
being, but his three bizarre, 
unsanitary 
and 
substance-

abusing housemates, Charlie 
(Nicholas Braun, “The Perks 
of Being a Wallflower”), Ethan 
(Christopher 
Mintz-Plasse, 

“Superbad”) and Luke (Brandon 
T. Jackson, “Triple Thunder”) 
make the millennial genera-
tion appear absolutely despi-
cable. If you were looking for 
an older, wiser parental figure 
to teach these helpless clowns 
how to get their lives together, 
you won’t find one — Will’s 
father, Roger (Bryan Cranston, 

“Breaking Bad”), becomes com-
pletely delusional on his quest 
for employment. The collective 
strangeness of characters and 
plot suggests that “How Not 
to Get a Job” would serve as a 
more accurate title. 

Once we listen to a few of the 

characters’ conversations, it’s 
obvious why no one wants to 
hire any of them. Their vocabu-
lary is limited to sexual lingo, 
with “dick” “fuck” and “come” 
being 
among 
the 
favorites. 

Then, during the last 20 min-
utes, there’s a dramatic tonal 
shift. Suddenly the film is try-
ing to take itself seriously by 
having each character, in his 
own weird way, preach the 
same idea: it’s not just about 
feeling special, but actually 
being special.

While crude humor may 

have been the intent, the mate-
rial can better be described as 
downright disgusting. Direc-
tor Dylan Kidd starts by test-
ing viewers’ stomachs as they 
are subjected to watching Luke 
chug a mason jar full of deer 
semen in order to obtain his 
own desk at the office. More 
worrisome is the scene where 
a young Asian boy ends up 
unconscious on the gym floor 
after Charlie lobs a basketball 

at him. No one, not even the 
surrounding parents or one of 
his classmates exhibits any sign 
of concern.

Another 
disappointing 

aspect of the film is its por-
trayal of women in power. 
Roger, the old timer in despair, 
basically begs the young baris-
ta, Cammy (newcomer Mimi 
Gianpulos) to fix him. Sure 
enough, a few scenes later, his 
once-graying hair is now solid 
black and Cammy’s constantly 
hanging onto Roger, indicating 
that she’s providing him with 
something more than caffeine 
and hair dye. Meanwhile, his 
son is being controlled by a con-
niving older woman, Kathleen 
Dunn (Marcia Gay Harden, 
“Into the Wild”), who openly 
admits that she’s only promot-
ing Will so she can have more 
control over him.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a 

film about the 20-somethings 
of America if substance abuse 
wasn’t prevalent. While a little 
party never killed nobody, the 
presence of beer and weed is 
so overwhelming in this film 
it might as well be a painfully 
long 
advertisement. 
Alcohol 

isn’t just used to alleviate mis-
ery 
and 
heighten 
euphoria 

— it’s viewed as the key to pro-
fessional success, as demon-
strated by Will’s insistence on 
Roger getting hammered before 
Will records him for his video 
resume. 

No amount of alcohol or mar-

ijuana will ever allow watching 
“Get a Job” to be a non-tortur-
ous experience. At least those 
who make the drunken mistake 
of pressing play can mostly for-
get the ordeal the next day. I 
wish I was so lucky.

CBS FILMS

“What do you say we get out of here and head to my Love Shack?”

FILM REVIEW

F

Get a Job

CBS Films

Video on Demand

FILM REVIEW
Netflix streams the 
sci-fi ‘Advantageous’

By VANESSA WONG

Daily Arts Writer

The 
most 
terrifying 
sci-

ence fiction is not the stuff of 
nightmares, but of reality: dys-
topian worlds 
that 
actually 

loom 
ahead. 

Set in a near-
distant future 
where automa-
tion 
squeez-

es 
humans 

— 
especially 

women — out 
of jobs, the fac-
tors that lead up into the world 
in “Advantageous” have already 
been laid out today. It’s just a 
matter of following the threads 
into years ahead, and watching 
order unravel into quotidian 
chaos.

Facing increasing pressure to 

look younger and more racially 
ambiguous, Gwen loses her job 
(Jacqueline Kim, “Red Doors”) 
as the figurehead of a plastic 
surgery company (ironically 
named the Center for Advanced 
Health and Living). The timing 
couldn’t be worse. She strug-
gles to pony up tuition for her 
daughter, 
Jules’s 
(Samantha 

Kim, “Futurestates”) expen-
sive prep school, her only shot 
at staying in the rapidly disap-
pearing middle class. To get 
her job back, Gwen agrees to 
undergo an invasive full-body 
transplant at a major sacrifice 
to herself. The film follows how 
the decision impacts Gwen and 
Jules’s close relationship.

The world of the future is 

assembled 
quietly. 
Director 

Jennifer Phang (“Half Life”) 
economizes 
her 
shoestring 

budget, using minimal CGI for 
a realistic blend of present day 
and high-tech urban skylines. 
Overly precocious children and 
stiff dialogue reveals an evolved 
communication form that pri-
oritizes facts, speed and logic. 
Throwaway dialogue hints at an 
AI economic takeover, as well as 
possible terrorist uprisings and 
rising child prostitution due to 
soaring unemployment rates 
– all events that could reason-
ably occur in the near future. 
Still, nothing is ever explained 
outright; the viewer draws the 
connections themselves. The 
expository narrative is revealed 
seamlessly, leaving the dialogue 
nimble and the focus on Gwen 
and Jules’s relationship.

With glacial lighting and ele-

gant cinematography, the pac-
ing is deliberately restrained 
so that the nuances in the rela-
tionship between Gwen and 
Jules can flourish. Gwen faces 
a catch-22 where she must sac-

rifice herself to give her daugh-
ter a leg up in the capitalist rat 
race, but to do so would rob 
Jules of an intimate relation-
ship with her mother. The film 
questions what it truly means to 
be “advantageous” in a chang-
ing world. The only pitfall is 
that for all its careful buildup, 
in the last half-hour, the film 
feels anxious to race to its fin-
ish line.

Directed by an Asian-Amer-

ican woman and featuring a 
diverse cast, “Advantageous” 
also marks a successful leap in 
media representation. It ques-
tions the pressures that society 
places on women, features mid-
dle-aged characters actually 
played by middle-aged actors, 
and gives Asian actors non-ste-
reotypical, multi-faceted roles. 
The story “Advantageous” tells 
is ultimately its own, not one 
where identity is used as a plot 
point.

Like any science fiction film, 

“Advantageous” 
occasionally 

questions the humans-versus-
technology 
distinction. 
But 

above all, it’s first and foremost 
a story of mothers, daughters 
and providing for those you 
love. Situated among technolo-
gies that can perform faster, 
and more efficiently, charac-
ters ask themselves, “why am 
I alive?” and overwhelming-
ly, Gwen’s fierce love for her 
daughter is the answer, ground-
ing the reason for life in emo-
tional connection.

Advantageous is streaming on 

Netflix.

A

Advanta-
geous

Netflix 
Exclusive

EVENT PREVIEW
‘Guys and Dolls’ 
brings NYC to A2

SMTD celebrates 

Frank Sinatra 
centennial with 
classic musical

By MERIN MCDIVITT

Daily Arts Writer

As the world celebrates Frank 

Sinatra’s centennial, songs, trib-
ute concerts and even figure 
skating 
rou-

tines 
paying 

homage to the 
beloved 
Rat 

Pack 
mem-

ber are every-
where. 
But 

the School of 
Music, Theatre 
and 
Dance’s 

nod to the leg-
endary crooner 
comes in a dif-
ferent 
form 

altogether. 
This weekend, 
the Power Center will usher 
audiences into a different era, 
where the bright lights and shad-
owy side streets of New York 
City give way to Prohibition-era 
Cuba, swaying with Jazz Age 
rhythms.

After taking on “American 

Idiot” last fall, the musical the-
ater program was ready for a 
blast from the past.

“We wanted to do something 

with more traditional musical 
theater to balance it,” said direc-
tor Mark Madama, an associate 
professor of music. “It’s going to 
be fun. It’s going to be colorful. 
It’s going to be exciting.”

The classic musical showcases 

Sinatra’s talents alongside those 
of Marlon Brando and Jean Sim-
mons in its 1955 film version, but 
the show’s real origin lies a little 
earlier, in 1950, when it debuted 
on Broadway. “Guys and Dolls” 
charmed audiences and swept 
the Tony Awards, worming its 
way into the American zeitgeist 
in a way few cultural phenomena 
ever do.

Its vivid portrayal of the seedy 

underbelly of New York City has 
inspired countless imitations 
and riffs. It popularized the 
multi-ethnic slang of this col-
orful era in Manhattan, bring-
ing words like “fly-by-night” (a 
short-lived romance) and “the 
heat” (the police) into popu-
lar consciousness. So deeply is 
“Guys and Dolls” intertwined 
with American culture that if 
you’re ever near Detroit, you can 
stop by Little Guys and Dolls 
Preschool on Six Mile Road. 
One can’t help but imagine tap-
dancing toddlers playing craps 
or maybe a couple of kindergar-
teners placing bets at the races.

The spirited world of “Guys 

and Dolls” will be on full dis-
play at the Power Center thanks 
to set designer Edward Morris, 
an alumnus who has worked 
all over show business since his 
time at the University of Michi-
gan. The click-clack of tap shoes 
will echo through the theater 
as the set flashes and shimmers 
with an overwhelming profusion 
of neon signs that has rendered 
the stage almost unrecognizable 
— a bustling metropolis in the 
middle of a college town.

One of the show’s many unex-

pected delights is the high-
quality writing — in addition to 

captivating musical numbers, 
the show packs jokes and refer-
ences slung at the audience as 
rapid-fire as a sawed-off shotgun 
in a Havana alleyway. The script 
was so well-received that it near-
ly won the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for 
Drama. Sadly, writer Abe Bur-
rows was under investigation by 
the House Un-American Activi-
ties Committee, an investiga-
tive Congressional committee 
whose activities during the time 
mirrored then-U.S. Sen. Joseph 
McCarthy’s 
anti-Communist 

push. That push ruined many a 
career in media. Burrows con-
tinued to write, but his Pulitzer 
aspirations were dashed forever. 
His script for “Guys and Dolls,” 
however, remains one of the best 
in the business.

“I love the idea of doing a tra-

ditional musical comedy that has 
a great book,” Madama said.

Before television took off in 

a big way in the late 1950s and 
variety shows began to dominate 
the airwaves, Broadway musi-
cals were an outlet for some of 
show business’s most talented 
writers. Dialogue was snappy 
and inventive, leaving perform-
ers plenty of wiggle room to 
bring life to their characters.

“Every character that gets 

played by a different person 
brings a different interpretation 
to that character,” Madama said. 
“They have to bring their own 
personality.”

From salsa to tap, romantic 

duets to an athletic “crapshoot-
er’s ballet,” “Guys and Dolls” is 
as engaging, relevant and just 
plain funny today as it was when 
the Chairman of the Board held 
court at the Rainbow Room.

Guys and 
Dolls

7:30 PM Thurs., 
8 PM Fri. and 
Sat., 2 PM Sun.

Apr. 14 to Apr. 17

Power Center

$12 with 

Student ID

New Atlanta is no doubt indebt-

ed to their ubiquitous triplet flow.

Quavo, likely the group’s most 

known member on account of his 
features (gracing Donnie Trum-
pet’s Surf and a number of Young 
Thug’s tracks) was at the lead as 
the night took off. He posed for 
pictures, hyped up the crowd, 
and represented the University of 
Michigan in a Denard Robinson 
jersey. Offset was the only mem-
ber not donning Michigan attire, 

but his Mike Tyson Supreme tee 
was more than acceptable for the 
occasion.

Most of their first raps went 

unrecognized by the audience, as 
they bobbed best they could in the 
unfriendly-to-standing Hill audi-
torium. The venue was admittedly 

unfit for this kind of high-energy 
hip-hop show, but the energy 
picked up as the group segued 
into more known territory. The 
drop of “Hannah Montana” was 
synchronized with a not whol-
ly unexpected Jim Harbaugh 
appearance, who jumped around 
stage for a bit and, of course, 
dabbed — much to the apprecia-
tion of the crowd. Water bottles 
flew through the air as kids threw 
their faces into their arms. That 
moment was the clear highlight 
for the night, where Migos and 
the audience seemed most in sync 
with one another.

The majority of the night 

moved quickly back and forth 
between those kinds of radio-hit 
highlights, and slower moments 
when the members called out 
their raps like lists, leaving the 
audience to stand back and appre-
ciate (or check their phones). The 
front of the venue was filled with 
kids dabbing with one hand and 
taking a selfie with the other. To 
Migos’ credit, they seemed to 
gauge the room relatively well, 
doling out popular tracks when 
they were needed and interacting 
with the audience when the per-
formance slowed. That was clear 
during the DJ Carnage-produced 
track “Bricks,” as the lights shut 
off and the group called for the 
room to turn on their phones 

(lighters are out these days). Dim 
iPhones waved around as the 
members rattled off their verses 
and jumped with the crowd, 
another high-energy point of the 
show. 

Sometime around “Handsome 

and Wealthy,” the group jumped 
off stage and into the crowd. Take-
off climbed over a row of seats and 
danced with the students for most 
of the track, much to the disap-
proval of the classically-trained 
security team.

Not too long after that high-

intensity 
crowd 
interaction, 

Migos left, possibly mid-song, and 
the slightly confused audience 
tentatively filed out, to murmurs 
of “Wait, is it over?” It was a fitting 
ending to a very stop-and-start 
event. The peaks of the night, 
though, still remained. Daps were 
exchanged and Migos left with a 
salute, their work here still unfin-
ished.

For those wondering, they 

were, apparently, headed towards 
Rick’s for an afterparty.

MIGOS
From Page 1

The most 

terrifying sci-fi 
is the stuff of 

reality.

CHECK OUT BEST OF ANN ARBOR!

IT PROBABLY FELL ON THE FLOOR 
WHEN YOU OPENED THIS PAPER!

(YOU’RE WELCOME.)

The jokes can be 
described best 
as downright 

digusting.

Water bottles 
flew and kids 
threw their 

faces into arms.

A Harbaugh 

dab. 

