Advertisement

Review: ‘And Now a Word From Our Sponsor’ is engaging

Share

Though the satirical “And Now a Word From Our Sponsor” feels like the love child of the Peter Sellers classic “Being There” and one of Jim Carrey’s signature gimmick comedies, director Zack Bernbaum still carves his own offbeat groove with this amusing fable.

Meet Adan Kundle (Bruce Greenwood), a missing ad agency chief executive who resurfaces one day speaking only in popular advertising slogans. As a result, his agency’s ruthless, eyes-on-the-prize president (Callum Blue) wants the loopy Kundle declared unfit to run the booming firm.

Meanwhile, widowed charity worker Karen (Parker Posey), who once attended a memorable seminar led by Kundle, takes in the former ad honcho until a spot becomes available for him in a psychiatric rehab facility.

Advertisement

PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments

In time-honored fashion, the beatific, loud-shirted Kundle starts enhancing the lives of those in his sphere, including Karen’s prickly teenage daughter (Allie MacDonald) while he offers such knee-jerk (or are they?) responses as “Relax, it’s FedEx” and “Got milk?” Though some catchphrases fit into the dialogue better than others, they’re fun to anticipate as are the inevitable moments when Kundle is mistaken for a pithy visionary.

Michael Hamilton-Wright’s salty-sweet script hangs on a slender conceit, one that could have used a more dimensional approach to Kundle. But with the nimble Greenwood and a kinder, gentler-than-usual Posey in charge, “And Now” proves a thoroughly engaging lark.

------------------------------

“And Now a Word From Our Sponsor.” No MPAA rating. Running time: 1 hour, 27 minutes. At Laemmle’s NoHo 7, North Hollywood.

Advertisement