Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

masonfisk Kyle Mooney, a current member of SNL, stars & co-wrote this extremely likeable fable that could've veered into an exploitative exercise rather than the quirky, amusing take we are given. An infant is abducted by a couple & raised in isolation to the point where a TV show is made specifically for him by his captors to entertain him not knowing the show would eventually become the focal point of his life now that he's freed. I expected a disaster since Mooney's humor on SNL can be hit or miss but this one he hits out of the park.

danielcooperclark The initial releases - theater and home combined - grossed about $700,000 worldwide. The producers aren't telling what the budget was. Who knows if the revenue covered the production cost. But it sure didn't come close to the $5 million Sony pitched in to distribute it. Maybe they're hoping that over time it'll become a cult classic online. I hope so too. The film deserves success. It's a spirited paean of praise to the transformative power of art and imagination. Of course the "plausibles," as Hitchcock called them, don't warm up to it. But for those willing to be carried along by a vibrant and positive vision, told with a quiet sense of humor, Brigsby Bear hits all the right notes.

jtncsmistad I just watched a movie that could have been really stupid. Really silly. Really mindless. And done as an offbeat dramedy is typically tossed out to us from Hollyweirdworld, it surely would have been. But the bunch behind "Brigsby Bear" clearly determined early on that this is what most would be expecting. And they cried a collective, "HELL NO!". The result of such scarce solidarity among the measure of movie making magicians has resulted in a funny, freaky and ultimately touching story. "Brigsby Bear" succeeds in bringing to bear the likes of that which is seldom concocted, nor bankrolled, in the biz of busting the beatific box office. Fabulously fresh faire fully worthy of our focus. As I am not a patron of "Saturday Night Live" I was wholly unfamiliar with "Brigsby Bear" star and co-writer Kyle Mooney. This is an interesting looking, and behaving, guy who put me in the mind of a kind of curious cross of affectation and physical resemblance among Dana Carvey, Steven Wright, Joel Coen and REM bassist Mike Mills. Damn, is that quite the broad-based brotherhood if ever there was one. And while on the subject of eclectic, let's talk about this spectacularly cool cast. It is not just any flick that combines the wildly diverse entertainment resumes of Greg Kinnear, Mark Hamill, Jane Adams, Claire Danes and Andy Samberg (who also Co-Produces here).So what is "Brigsby Bear" about you're no doubt asking? On face, it's about a "well meaning" survivalist couple abducting a baby, who decades later is returned to his birth family as a grown manchild, obsessed with a kid's TV show of which he was an audience of one. But what this quirky and affecting saga is really ABOUT is the definition of family, and the many forms and incarnations defined therein. The overarching message is this-that support, encouragement, understanding and love are not necessarily the stuff of rigidity and tradition. Rather, it is a common bond among souls. Souls that matter to others more than anything in the world. And in the strange case of "Brigsby Bear", it makes little difference whether that connection is forged in "real life" or from the limitless life of the human spirit. After all, isn't this the eternal truth to which each and every one of us bear witness?

Movie_Muse_Reviews The narrative of Netflix's "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" collides with the notion of super-fandom in "Brigsby Bear," an inventive debut film from a couple newer "Saturday Night Live" talents. In other words, what would you do if you suddenly found out the movie franchise or TV series you obsess over was actually unknown to the rest of the world?Co-written by and starring Kyle Mooney, "Brigsby Bear" imagines what a young man whose singular focus was a TV show might do when he discovers that not only the whole show is "fake," but also his entire life as he knew it was a fabrication. Creating both the playful tone of geeky sci-fi/fantasy TV show fandom with the seriousness of a real-life trauma is the balancing act assigned to Mooney's "SNL" colleague Dave McCary, who makes his feature directing debut.What you want out of this conceptually intriguing melange of a comedy after the premise makes itself clear will ultimately determine how much you enjoy "Brigsby Bear." The premise is so rich that there are lots of directions the film can go, but Mooney and co-writer Kevin Costello's script only satisfies some of them. Up for debate is whether it could have.The most immediate challenge of watching the film involves the realism of Mooney's character James' reactions regarding his unusual circumstances. One might expect that learning the truth about his life and adjusting to the world might come with a heavy dose of trauma, but the story refuses to let James get buried in a heap of psychological conflict. Instead, he kind of frolics ahead with a full head of blissful ignorance. This makes empathizing with James really difficult, but Mooney's commitment to the character helps overcome it to a degree.One of the film's strengths from a moral standpoint is that James clearly has some kind of social disorder, but what he has or doesn't have never comes up and has no bearing on the story in any overt way. Most films can't say that. Kudos aside, Mooney really does bring an authenticity as well as comedic skill to playing James. What helps the script navigate around the challenges of realism and a character with that kind of personality and worldview is the way the other characters in James' life, namely his parents (Matt Walsh and Michaela Watkins) and therapist (Claire Danes) think they know what's best. "Brigsby Bear" also has traces of an inspirational drama, as in James is that challenged, lovable main character who inspires everyone around him. From his sister (Ryan Simpkins) to a local police detective (Greg Kinnear), James is meant to be an infectious personality who helps change peoples' perspectives on life. Again, it's Mooney's performance that allows some of that tenderness to take hold. Yet tenderness is just one tone contending to be the featured mood of "Brigsby Bear," which is both a pleasure and a frustration. The film is about fandom, it's about overcoming trauma, it's about creating things and pursuing your passion - yet none of these things are explored with the care and depth they'd receive if the film were focused on any one of them exclusively. Mooney and Costello open a lot of doors to rooms they don't let us into, and if any one of those rooms appears more interesting to you then the ones you ultimately enter, "Brigsby Bear" will feel a little disappointing.Despite not entirely matching its ambition, "Brigsby" contains a lot of elements that will endear it to audiences, and in fact, some of its own creative ambition appropriately matches that of its character. ~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Review for more