Jake Johnson Makes Directorial Debut with ‘Self Reliance’

For his first movie as a director, New Girl alum Jake Johnson wisely taps the strengths of a lead actor he knows very well: New Girl alum Jake Johnson. The king of dirtbags you can bring home to mom is expertly (self-)cast as Self Reliance‘s Tommy, a down-on-his luck Angeleno who submits to a month-long ‘game’ with a promised payout of $1 million. It’s a role that allows Johnson to deploy one of the sharpest instruments in his comedic tool chest: A knack for conveying outlandish ideas with utter matter-of-fact sincerity.

Unfortunately, Johnson’s directing style mimics a different facet of his onscreen persona: The cool nonchalance that would allow a guy like Tommy to sink into multiple ruts and never look back. Enough of Tommy’s encounters with elaborately costumed would-be killers are treated with a shrug that it makes his predicament feel like a minor inconvenience and not a quest to get (modestly) rich or die trying. Self Reliance never musters the psychological-thriller pressure necessary to make us fear for Tommy’s safety.

Consider the extended interlude in which Tommy and fellow player (and more?) Maddy (Anna Kendrick) hide out in a motel while running out the clock on Tommy’s 30-day sentence. A montage of their beer-swilling, takeout-eating, and casual-snuggling retreat efficiently communicates their growing bond and echoes previous stitched-together snapshots of Tommy sliding into routine.

It may be more of a scripting problem than a directing one – though it bears mentioning that the director and star is also the screenwriter here. There’s a bewitching, dreamlike texture to Tommy’s induction into the game and its rules, full of labyrinthine hallways and reality-TV production staff who slip in and out of shadows like sleep paralysis hallucinations. That elliptical loopiness helps gin up conflict between Tommy and his underwritten mother and sisters, but it doesn’t extend to the clumsy dialogue in which they tell him he’s delusional.

We’ve already climbed into the limo with Tommy. Self Reliance shouldn’t be so apologetic about where it’s headed. Jake Johnson takes a big swing with his first attempt at starring in, writing, and directing a movie: A comedic riff on The Most Dangerous Game where his character is safe from being killed as long as there’s someone else nearby. That scenario creates a lot of awkward opportunities for Johnson to capitalize on with his signature, deeply committed delivery. But ‘safe’ winds up being the watchword here, with a script that’s too eager to underline its themes of community and connection, and a director who’s more comfortable overseeing quips and conversation than rollicking suspense.