by Robin Menken, Film Critic
You don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy Todd Wolfe’s briskly funny WE NEED TO TALK. Set in the world of Youtube gaming, the charming cast keeps laughs rolling, while surrounded by cameos of famous Gamers. Hyper online video-game influencer ‘Great’ Scott (James Maslow) has one of the biggest video game channels on the internet, plays games 24-7 and lives in an internet bubble, an echo chamber of his rabid followers.
Actor-musician Maslow (Nickelodeon’s “Big Time Rush”) is known for “Sequestered” and “Big Time Movie”. He said, “The script was inspired by my personal experiences working for a narcissistic YouTuber and experiencing firsthand the self-indulgence and delusions that tend to surround the social media arena. Combined with my penchant for playing video games at two pm on an average Tuesday, I’d become more obsessed with my work preoccupations than my personal relationships.”
In WE NEED TO TALK, Maslow plays an untested boy-man who has a rugged “coming of age” 24 hours, when his live-in girlfriend Ali (Christel Khalil – “The Young and the Restless”) tries to get his attention when she drops the classic “We have to talk” line on him before leaving for work. Scott snaps to as the door shuts behind her.
When he shares his worries with his numerous fans, the gamer gets whipped into a fear frenzy. As more online buddies post dire warnings about what “We need to talk” might mean, the anxiety goes exponential. Random theories include: “She’s seeing someone else. She’s dumping your ass,” or even more troubling, “she’s pregnant.”
Trailer quick look
Scott’s wired band of Gamers, joined at the Gameball, play non-stop games morning and night while giving infuriating advice. There’s cocky Tango_Unchained (Tray Chaney – ”The Wire”) and his Skype British girlfriend Lady Fingers (Chrisdine King), Daddy Gamer (Peter Patrikios) who even puts off feeding his kids till “the game is over.”
There’s trash-talking kid Kyle (Devin Kennedy – “Dispatches from Elsewhere”), also Scott’s loyal video producer the coolly funny Joe (Sketch comic Johnathan Fernandez – “Stone Cold Fox”, “Gossip Girls”). Acerbically funny Emily Bett Rickards (“Brooklyn,” “Arrow,” “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”) plays Amber, Ali’s best friend who can’t wait till she dumps his ass. Add Amanda Schoonover (“Dispatches from Elsewhere”). who plays Melissa, Ali’s cheery well-meaning receptionist.
Writer-Director Wolfe cites John Hughes, Harold Ramis, and John Landis, as directors who most influenced him and the film reflects the genuine warmth and clever humor of those Eighties classics.
WE NEED TO TALK premieres on digital platforms May 13 from Global Digital Releasing.
[Robin Menken is a Contributing Reviewer for Screenmancer.]
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