Addicted to Fresno

Addicted to Fresno

Addicted to Fresno is a mean, boring and silly movie that buries its talented cast under an unplayable script. Like Staten Island Summer before it, it’s a “comedy” with a great ensemble given almost nothing funny to do. Why so many actors who should know they’re above this material chose not to be for a few weeks of shooting I can’t say; my guess is the involvement of Jamie Babbitt got them to sign on the bottom line, having likely worked with the excellent TV director on Married, Girls, Playing House, Drop Dead Diva, United States of Tara, The Middle or any one of the dozen other shows she’s directed. (Babbitt is generally a confident, capable TV director who can’t rescue Karey Dornetto’s script from its misanthropic foundation.) This is a film populated mostly by awful people doing awful things that only awful people do in awful movies.

Shannon (Judy Greer) has moved in with her sister Martha (Natasha Lyonne) after running away from rehab for sex addiction. She’s also been forced to get a job at the same hotel where Martha works, run by Kristen (Jessica St. Clair), where she meets Martha’s friendly co-worker Eric (Malcolm Barrett). Meanwhile Shannon is sleeping with her married therapist Edwin (Ron Livingston) while Martha struggles with a recent break-up and ignores the advances of Kelly (Aubrey Plaza), who’s clearly romantically interested.

What starts as a character dramedy ala Sunshine Cleaning becomes something much different when Shannon decides to have quickie sex with hotel guest Ruby (), and Martha bursts in on them. Shannon cries rape something she tends to do when caught masturbating and Martha moves to defend her sister but accidentally kills Ruby in the process. Now they’ve got to dispose of the body, which actually takes this sitcom story to both crematorium and a Bar Mitzvah that the girls elect to rob. Small roles are filled by Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen, Kumail Nanjiani and Alison Tolman. All should have known better.

There are so many unlikable characters and blatantly Look At How Edgy We Are joke topics here that it’s hard to keep track rape, addiction, murder, dementia, Down’s Syndrome, etc.

Do you find these things inherently hilarious? Addicted to Fresno is for you. Using this kind of material for humor is certainly not impossible but does demand a difficult tonal balance Dornetto can’t manage; it’s more often gross than funny and more often off putting than anything else. It’s like a stand-up comedian trying out their new, edgy material to the sound of clinking glasses and hearty sighs. Do you think an old woman in a birthday hat in a wheelchair saying “poopy” is funny? Do you know anyone who does? If so consider finding new friends.

The cast is just too good in “Addicted to Fresno” and it only gets more depressing as you realize how much they’re going to be wasted. There were moments when that talent shone through the first scene between Greer & Shannon, a funny bit with Nanjiani, Armisen & Tolman’s first scene but they were almost immediately buried by material that didn’t land. By the time the girls are planning a heist to steal gifts from a Bar Mitzvah my brain had already checked out and gone somewhere more interesting, safer, and funnier.

Watch Addicted to Fresno For Free On Gomovies.