Bart Got a Room

The Director and Cast: Brian Hecker, William H. Macy, Alia Shawkat, Steven Kaplan, and Cheryl Hines

Oh, South Florida! There really aren’t many movies that try to tackle the complete culture of this bizarre pocket of the country. Director and south Florida native, Brian Heckler, took on this challenge in his hilarious film Bart Got a Room. This film portrayed Danny, a high school senior and only child of a divorced Jewish couple (played by William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines). The who film is a count down to prom night and Danny’s quest to find a date other than his long time childhood friend Camille (played by Alia Shawkat). Danny’s parents, inappropriate and over-sharing to the max, will stop at nothing to help their son on his quest. Even is it means picking up a hooker on the street to be his prom date.

Bart Got a Room was hilarious the whole way through but had an unforgettable father-son twist on the famous Harry and Sally dinner scene. When Danny’s dad moves into a new house by the beach, he tries to convince Danny to bring his dates home there instead of to his mothers. The discussion quickly develops into a debate on the soundproof quality of the walls. To test this, William H. Macy gives a brilliant performance of the 10 different levels of noise that might occur when either father or son “has a woman over”. And of course the front door has been left open and in the middle of his performance, a white haired and brightly colored south Florida woman slowly makes her way to the door with a plate of baked goods and then slowly retreats.

The performances of William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines hilarious and apparently based on the directors real life parents who were in the audience. The one disappointment of this film was the part of Camille played by Alia Shawkat. The director gave a speech saying that he only wanted Maeby from Arrested Development to play Camille and no one else would do. But the part of Camille was one of the only non-humorous roles in the film. Her character was quiet and boring and plain which is exactly why Danny didn’t want to take her to the prom in the first place. As a big fan of Alia, I wish she had been given a role with a little more comic substance.