Review: I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With

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A veteran of Second City, who’s since directed HBO specials with Denis Leary and Jon Stewart, Jeff Garlin has also been a sidekick in a number of movies (such as “Daddy Day Care”) but most memorably, as the agent and best friend of Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” now in its sixth season. Garlin’s also captured John Waters’ one man show, “This Filthy World” on film, which just opened in England and should be on DVD here soon. Garlin’s feature writing-directing debut, “I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With,” is amiable, meandering, modest yet satisfying. “Cheese” features Garlin as James, a Second City comedian still living with his mother, who hasn’t had sex in five years, and can’t resist late night binges on cupcakes and milk leaning against his car hood in the shadow of Wrigley Field. James only wants someone to love him, a great acting part and to lose weight. The loss of the lead in a remake of Paddy Chayefsky’s “Marty” is almost as damaging as an interlude with Beth (Sarah Silverman), who he meets at a soda fountain. “The last thing I need to do right now is start obsessing about the hot girl with the free ice cream,” Garlin observes in his familiar bold yet slightly too analytical fashion. It’s a time capsule in two ways: while Garlin’s affection for the look of Chicago is glorious, his characters doing walk-and-talks down all sorts of streets is lovingly shot (by local cinematographer Pete Biagi). But in his large cast, the 45-year-old Garlin is also casting a raft of colleagues he’s known for almost two decades, capturing the niceties of their idiosyncratic styles with precision. Plus, “Cheese” may be the largest collection of insanely funny women in one movie ever: aside from Silverman, consider Bonnie Hunt, Gina Gershon, Amy Sedaris, Mina Kolb, Phyllis Smith, Rose Adobo and Henriette Mantel. The male secondary casting is rich as well; Paul Mazursky, Dave Pasquesi, Dan Castellaneta, Tim Kazurinsky, Wallace Langham, Roger Bart, Larry Neumann, Jr. and the laser-like meanness of Richard Kind. 85m. (Ray Pride)