Loves Company

When done right, dark comedy can make for entertaining fare. But, when mishandled, it can be a real chore to sit through. And, as for this latest offering from writer-director Jason Laurits, the finished product falls somewhere in the middle, starting out strong but losing steam the further it progresses. The film is at its best when viewers meet washed-up television celebrity Blake de Troy (Jack Plotnick), a onetime staple of campy 1970s game shows cut from the same cloth as the likes of Paul Lynde, Rip Taylor and Charles Nelson Reilly. Since the heyday of his career, however, Blake has struggled to find work except for the occasional made-for-TV movie and supporting appearances on two seasons of a cheesy sitcom. And, of late, the pickings have been even slimmer, no matter how much his handler and long-suffering partner, Jimmy (Bryan Batt), has tried to bolster Blake’s sagging marketability, a sad but funny effort loaded with some hearty laughs. Blake still tries to put his name out there, convinced that something will eventually click, but about the only interest he garners comes through occasional fan letters from diehard followers, most of which he summarily dismisses out of hand. However, when Blake is suddenly and unexpectedly widowed, he’s lost. So, while on a trip to scatter Jimmy’s ashes, he impulsively decides to look up one of his snail mail contacts, his supposed number one fan, Antoinette Funk (Rachel Dratch). Antoinette is lonely, having recently lost the elderly father she was caring for in her rundown home in the Florida Everglades. But Blake soon comes to regret his decision to satisfy his curiosity, especially when he’s injured in a car accident on his way there. Upon regaining consciousness, he quickly discovers that she’s the second coming of Annie Wilkes, the unhinged number one fan from Stephen King’s “Misery” (1990). He becomes embroiled in a scenario not unlike that of the protagonist in that wickedly dark comedy, a plot development that gets...