Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders are exceptionally likable actors, and the new comedy “Results” from indie director Andrew Bujalski gives them the best opportunity they’ve had in a while to show just how charming and smart they can be.
They’re so good, you wish there’d be more of them.
That’s the good and the bad when it comes to this character-driven, romantic satire set in the fitness world, in which two personal trainers grapple with changes to their carefully-molded worlds of protein shakes, kettlebells and Pilates.
The movie, set in Austin, Texas, moves quickly and has a strong sense of the absurdities inherent in an existence predicated on such meticulous control.
These people might be beautiful and in peak physical condition, but mentally and emotionally they’re really no different than new client Danny (Kevin Corrigan), who arrives in town following a difficult divorce and causes all sorts of problems when he takes a personal interest in the studio run by Pearce’s Trevor and falls for Smulders’ Kat.
Bujalski, hailed for smaller scale films such as the pioneering mumblecore effort “Funny Ha Ha,” has a tough time weaving in Danny’s story.
His screenplay wanders too far from what should be its central focus, on Pearce and Smulders and their lives, with ample time spent on evoking the ennui and depression eating at Corrigan’s character. These figures just aren’t integrated seamlessly and the movie suffers for it.
