Sofa So Good (’12’): A Funny Little Short Film…. Overstretched to Breaking.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “Sofa So Good” (2024) (From the 2024 London Film Festival).

When does a film stop being a short film and become a feature film? I *think* that the limit for a film to be considered “short” (at least, judging from the films that are eligible for Oscars and BAFTAs) is 40 minutes. Most feature films pitch in as a minimum above 80 minutes. “Sofa So Good” kind of falls between these two stools, clocking in at just 69 minutes. But, even then, for me it was about 20 minutes too long.

Bob the Movie Man Rating:

“Sofa So Good” Plot Summary:

Two cousins, Red and Jake, have just dumped their broken old sofa in a skip. They need a new one and find an advert for one that seems perfect for $50. There’s one problem… the owner lives way across town and they have no reliable transport.

Certification:

UK: NR; US: NR. (At the time of writing, this has not been rated by the BBFC, but I think it would be a ’12’.)

Talent:

Starring: Desmond Gilmore, Joseph Jeffries, Yahel Pack.

Directed by: The Thiele Brothers.

Written by: The Thiele Brothers

Running Time: 1h 9m.

“Sofa So Good” Summary:

Positives:

• Some genuinely funny, laugh-out-loud moments.

Negatives:

• Some genuinely unfunny scenes that just don’t work.
• Based on its content, it outlives its goodwill.

Review of “Sofa So Good”:

A good premise for a short film.

I really wanted to like this one. The movie’s concept rang many bells for me with Laurel and Hardy’s classic “The Music Box” from 1932 in which the two buffoons need to deliver a piano across town with disastrous results.

But “Sofa So Good” – with this exact plot – has been made before in 2010 as a 16 minute short film by Robin Lindsey. This version by the Thiele Brothers is a remake of that, but black. (Another short film – also called “Sofa So Good” – and made by Noa Osheroff in 2020 has a different plot altogether.)

Bits are very funny.

Yes, it made me laugh multiple times. Sometimes it was the absurdist comments from the cousins to each other: “Never make promises”, one says to the other. “OK”, he replies, “I promise”.

Sometimes it was the dry comment about events happening on their travels. On seeing the ‘biker gang’ crazily burning an old sofa in an alley, Jake dryly comments “Dorks!” and walks on.

When they meet their dream sofa, there is angelic light and a version of “Ave Maria” playing in the background.

And the repeated dreamy sequences of the duo walking across the scene with their sofa, filmed in crisp black and white, are fun.

But many scenes just don’t work.

To pad the film out to its 65 minutes, there clearly has to be more going on than this. Unfortunately, the “more going on” involves random meetings with friends and acquaintances who are a) in the main, not good actors and b) often not funny at all. Examples are:

• A member of a marching band at one point, for no apparent reason that I could hear (see below), gives them his clarinet;
• A street puppeteer gets his puppets smashed;
• A bad Elvis impersonator falls flat on his face, both metaphorically and physically. (OK, actually the latter was quite funny).

What did you say?

Technically, the photography is clear and crisp black and white. The same can’t be said for the sound, which in some scenes is completely inaudible. Typically, this is where the camera is a long way from the actors and tracking with them. Either the actors need to be better miked, or else these scenes needed to be over-dubbed in the studio.

Summary Thoughts on “Sofa So Good”

There were seven walkouts in my screening, which is the most I’ve seen at the LFF in this first week. I appreciated the funny bits of this film and commend what it was trying to do. But equally, I understand why those seven people thought it wasn’t for them.

This is a film that was marked in the LFF catalog as “Looking for a UK distributor”…. I fear it’s not going to get one, but might appear in the future on some streaming channel.

Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)

At the time of writing, this film wasn’t on the Justwatch database.

Trailer for “Sofa So Good”:

The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lDhX84qk4s .

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