Birthday parties are always awkward. This is even more so the case, we imagine, when they involve a landmark year like 30, a best friend who is secretly in love with you, a boyfriend who has been sleeping with your friends and a sister who is there to conveniently narrate it all. Good thing there is cake and copious amounts of alcohol in the upcoming indie flick "The Kitchen."
"The Kitchen" is an ensemble comedy taking place entirely in...well, a kitchen, adding a theatrical touch to the indie-music driven plot. The film stars Laura Prepon of "That Seventies Show," Bryan Greenberg as her unfaithful ex and Dreama Walker as her sister. The trailer features a lot of shot taking, awkward glances, thick-rimmed glasses and self-deprecating humor. Lena Dunham paved the way for the acceptance of white twenty-something problems in all their awkward glory, and it looks as if "The Kitchen" is pushing the age limit into the thirties. While this may be alarming for humanity, it will certainly be amusing in a film. Also, if you are into alt-rock, the soundtrack is sure to tickle your fancy, featuring indie darlings like Fun., Harlem Shakes, and Superhumanoids.
We talked briefly to Bryan Greenberg, famed for his role on HBO's "How to Make It In America," who plays Prepon's ex-boyfriend, whom he called "the worst human being I have ever played on film" during a phone interview with The Huffington Post. The less-than-loyal beau breaks up with the film's protagonist the night before her big birthday because he may or may not have slept with one or more of her friends. On top of it all, he feels as if he is the victim and should be rewarded for his honesty.
While Greenberg didn't seem to connect much to his character, he did identify with the general ethos of the film, an ode to the thirty something in transition. He told us, "We have no idea what we're supposed to be doing with the rest of our lives. [Turning thirty] is supposed to be this huge milestone and once you get there you end up being a little lost, even though you're supposed to have it all figured out."
When asked about the humor of the film, Greenberg described it as "definitely comedic," explaining "it's just like watching a bunch of characters have great banter." Yet our allusion to the deadpan wittiness of Noah Baumbach's classic 1995 film "Kicking and Screaming" came up flat, drawing confusion with a Will Ferrell film of the same name. The awkwardness of being a thirty-something continues...
"The Kitchen" will close out the Gen Art Film Festival tonight, August 14th, at the School of Visual Arts Theatre in New York.