Silliness and sincerity don’t mix well for Posey starrer.
Far from the notion that not getting any booty in Cleveland is the equivalent to a death row sentence, Billy Kent’s harmless indie rom com tries to offer a more mature perspective on 30-something yuppie/slacker dilemma but its combined bittersweet and silly packaging tries hard to achieve the big O in the laughs department and unfortunately The OH in Ohio is guilty of all things not having enough: climaxes. A limited release and both The House of Yes’ Parker Posey’s non-factor performance added to Danny Devito’s presence should ensure that this finds very little word-of-mouth and the handful of true Posey fans that exist.
They have the perfect glasses to toast to a perfect life, but unfortunately batteries can put a dent in a relationship, and the moment that Parker’s business woman character finds a new best friend, (who always works, never complains and you can carry in your purse) it sets her on a mission of a long series of men to find her beau with friends of Harvey Pekar and a predictable pony-tailed Casanova as the best she can find. Paul Rudd plays a teacher guilty of having other interests while his wife is guilty of being frigid, or perhaps not curious enough. In a narrative vein that is both Election with a pinch of John Waters’ A Dirty Shame, scribe Adam Wierzbianski’s tale takes on a dual role approach to self-discovery inside a framework that is such a stereotypical look at the 30-something generation.
That are some quirky bits that work – a Liza Minnelli could have been a joke gone bad, but surprisingly it puts a smirks on one’s face but then a particular boardroom pager sequence with Posey in the crossfire is far too cartoon-ish to make anyone convulse in warranted laughter. Not the neurotic flake from her Christopher Guest film appearances, or the emblematic presence in her slew of 90’s quirky characters, the former girl we used to call the “indie queen†manages to flash only some signs of luminosity – but her character is far too tweaked as the woman who discovers her sexual awakening. Despite the plain visual look to the film, the language and sexuality is head on straight but not particularly effective.
Even if the storyline follows a linear route and a mature ending and avoids the full circle ending, Kent banks on a tone that is all silliness – it thus camouflages any witty commentary that could and should have made it inside this film. Milking all the tax-cut money possible out of a Cleveland shoot, this might tickle some funny-bones in older audiences, but one would have a hard time imagining how The OH in Ohio could strike a cord with anyone conscious of their G-spot – which in this sexual liberated generation is pretty much everyone.
