LM23 Rating: Oddly entertaining but serious and reflective
Maybe it’s just the times we’re in now but a lot of us late Milennials/Xennials/early Gen X’ers are all reaching that tough stage in life where we are wondering how the hell did we get to this age being the person that we are today? This Is Life is a great example of this past and present and future life review. And Life & Beth has a bit of This Is Life in it.
The multi-talented Amy Schumer plays the titular character, Beth, who goes on her life review after getting an unexpected phone call that her mother has been killed in a car accident. Beth is a typical one of us in that age of adulthood where we seem to have done all of the right things to have a good paying job, a relationship, and our own dwelling in a big city. Check, check, and check. But like most of us, nothing is as what it seems. And oftentimes, a lot of it just sucks.
I ended up watching the first three episodes that are available on Disney+ and I watched the episodes with the perspective as if I’m reviewing Beth’s life and choices and how it oftentimes contradicts with her true personality.
There’s a scene where Beth is on the job at a vineyard and the manager there or whatever he is, is completely rude to her, yet she has to remain super sweet and professional because that’s her job. It makes you wonder at that moment if Beth is wondering how the hell did she end up in this random vineyard trying to sell wine and having to eat shit being shovelled to her with a smile? How many of us have had to do this and are suddenly aware of this happening to them?
Life & Beth is pretty much carried by Amy Schumer. Her character is on screen the majority of the time and the other characters just seemingly drop in and drop out of her life. Even her former boyfriend/fiancé, Matt, is forgettable, but definitely serial killer weird. You don’t understand why Beth is even with this guy beyond he seems like a good looking and successful guy.
And then Michael Cera shows up. Cera looks permanently 25 years old, so it’s hard to see him be this adult man who’s probably going to end up being Beth’s future love interest. But even his character is odd and out of left field. He plays the groundskeeper John who Beth meets at the vineyard. John for some reason has blood splatters all over his white shirt. He plays the typical small town, I work with my hands and the earth gruff guy who doesn’t understand the corporate big city life.
I know this storyline is played out many times in Hallmark holiday movies where a woman goes through some life event and finds her way back to her old stomping grounds and realizes she’s wasted her whole life chasing a fabricated dream. But like This Is Us, this is a more serious and realistic life reassessment than a cheesy plotline.
I’m sure as we progress into more episodes, we’ll find out more about Beth’s personality before she landed her big job and life in New York City. But it seems to have been a more or less good upbringing in that she was known as a cool kid and was even a competitive volleyball player. It’s funny seeing this because when I look back at my youth, I was a bit of a sports star as well. I wasn’t #1 or anything but I was on a lot of teams and won a lot of ribbons. I was a solid player in many sports. But after a certain age all of that just went away and it was like that part of me faded away.
What I also find interesting is there’s two characters from Beth’s past that she happens upon that so far are the only ones that have expressed true concern and remorse for her loss. One is a guy who’s checking for tickets on the train to Long Island and another is a guy who’s the pharmacist at the drug store. It also reminded me of how all of us end up in those jobs one way or another. We all become that guy who sells tickets. We all become that guy behind the counter. And for Beth, she ended up being a wine sales rep. The only question is, but why?
What makes Life & Beth work is that each episode is about a half hour, so the unevenness is easier to take. I will look forward to seeing what else happens and learning more about her life.
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