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‘I Used to Be Funny’ Review: A Complex Canadian Seriocomedy in Which Laughter Suffers a Breakdown
Ally Pankiw’s impressive first feature 'I Used to Be Funny' stars Rachel Sennott as an ascending stand-up who finds PTSD no joke.
For many viewers, the scenes hardest to take in viral streaming cringefest “Baby Reindeer” weren’t the ones of overt stalking or abuse, but those depicting the DOA stand-up comedy of Richard Gadd’s alter ego — moments whose flop-sweating public failure seemed to stretch into tortuous infinity. Particularly admirable is the way Pankiw embeds the stage-ready snappy patter between Sam and her friends (it also helps her bond with Brooke) so organically into the story that by the time our heroine utters the title phrase, we fully grok how wrenching a realization that is for her. A born channel for dyspeptic Gen Z humor, Sennott (who co-wrote last year’s high school comedy “Bottoms”) is ideally cast as a character whose brash, self-deprecating flippancy can turn into chronic self-loathing.
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