Product Description

Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin is James, a frustrated underappreciated Chicago actor who lives with his mother. James wants three things in life: someone to love him, a great part and to lose some weight. Unfortunately, he is 0 for 3. When he bails on Overeaters Anonymous for a trip to the ice cream parlor, he meets Beth who quickly wins his heart, but will this cause James more problems than it solves? Or has he finally found someone to eat cheese with? A brilliant ensemble cast makes this story of romance quite the comedy!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29488 in DVD
• Brand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
• Released on: 2008-04-15
• Rating: Unrated
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 80 minutes

Amazon.com
A romantic comedy with a meandering, almost conversational feel, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With is a movie about overweight actor James Aaron (Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin) who lives with his mother (Mina Kolb) and hasn't had a relationship with a woman in five years. Incredibly picky about the roles he plays, James hasn't landed many acting jobs recently either, although he is the host of a junk television show. Finding solace in conversations with his friend Luca (David Pasquesi) and through eating junk food, this societal misfit walks out of an Overeaters Anonymous meeting in search of satisfaction and meaning only to enter a random ice cream parlor where he encounters Beth (Sara Silverman), an oversexed woman who takes an immediate liking to him. Thoroughly smitten, James' initial ebullience soon fizzles out and his strange relationship with Beth throws a whole different light on a chance encounter with a jazz-fan and teacher (Bonnie Hunt) in a local record store. In the end, James achieves a certain degree of independence, but the viewer is left in doubt about his relative sense of happiness and fulfillment. --Tami Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Modest Comedy About a Lonely Sad Sack Boasts a Smart Cast to Overcome Its Familiar Premise
Any movie that offers Bonnie Hunt, Sarah Silverman and Amy Sedaris in the supporting cast has to be well worth watching, and comic actor Jeff Garlin takes advantage of the terrific talent he recruited for his 2007 directorial debut, a sad-sack comedy about an overweight man who feels out of step with the world around him. Familiar as Larry David's manager Jeff on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Garlin plays James, a still-struggling, 39-year old Chicago actor who lives with his widowed mother. His self-esteem is so low that he can't meet women, but he's a likable guy and it's the comical way he views his single status that makes his dilemma involving. If the storyline sounds a bit familiar, that's because the film is partially a tribute to the 1955 Ernest Borgnine classic, Marty, about a lonely Bronx butcher living with his meddlesome mother. In fact, Garlin uses Marty as the play which James is desperate to do since he is so empathetic to the character's situation.

Naturally there is a love story of sorts in this new millennium version, and Silverman plays Beth, an off-kilter, sexually voracious ice cream parlor server who takes him on an underwear shopping spree. Their best scene together is in his favorite convenience store where they improvise different characters in different aisles. Hunt plays a lonely elementary school teacher who shares a passion with James for jazz saxophonist Ben Webster. They meet accidentally in a record store and then again at a career day at her school where he hilariously exposes his sexual neuroses in front of a classroom of first-graders, including his best friend Luca's pert daughter Penelope (played by Dakota Fanning's look-alike baby sister Elle). In a wedged-in cameo and looking quite a bit like Jerri Blank, Sedaris plays the school's counselor who speaks to James after his inappropriate monologue. David Pasquesi plays Luca, a retirement home manager, and his scenes with Garlin have an easy rapport that makes their friendship easy to believe. Almost stealing the movie is character actress Mina Kolb, who plays James' pixilated mother with pluck and heart.

There are also unexpected cameos from teen idol Aaron Carter and Gina Gershon (don't ask...but the set-up is funny), as well as sharply played bits by director Paul Mazursky as the snaky director of a candid-camera-type show, "Smear Job"; Tim Kazurinsky as the unsuspecting victim of that show; Roger Bart as the play's ignorant casting director; and Dan Castellaneta as the tough-love convenience store owner. With his rueful bouts of insecurity and self-loathing, Garlin's comic sensibilities resemble those of Albert Brooks, and the casual dialogue at its best reminds me of Modern Romance and Defending Your Life. The one persistent problem I had with the film is pacing as some scenes dragged out longer than necessary. The problem is more evident in the first half when Garlin is trying to establish the right tempo, and the lack of real conflict adds to the sluggishness. Regardless, what he does well is capture that gnawing sense of desperation one feels upon the revelation that life is not what it is supposed to be, that a significant other may be out of reach, and that a steady diet of junk food eaten on a car hood is the only sure thing when it comes to gratification.

"Who Cut The Cheese?"
Or like the French (and some ugly Americans like me) say, "Qui couper le frommage?"

OK, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'll admit I enjoyed "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With."

"Cheese" communicates in a very innocent, direct and quirky method, that is entirely endearing. Its difficult not to develop some affection for Jeff Garlin. This movie is essentially a "stream of experience" about Jeff's life as an nice, aimless, affable, funny, fat jewish guy.

Sarah Silverman delivers a performance that could (or will) be right out of "The Sarah Silverman Program." Bonnie Hunt is wonderful as the school teacher, and Dan Castellaneta is great as the store owner.

I'm going to watch it again to make sure I don't miss any of the great humor, like when the homeless guy refuses to wear the pirate costume saying, "I'm a homeless guy. All I have left is my dignity."

This would have been five stars, but as the movie begins to build toward what I thought might be the most important scenes, it suddenly ends. Perhaps demonstrating my interest in the film, I felt ripped-off, like someone had just deleted a huge chunk somewhere in the second half of the DVD. The last scene, which was supposed to be very meaningful, was probably set up by the missing material, so it just seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Its as if the producer of the movie, like Jeff Garlin's character, full of talented self-doubt, got off to a great start but suddenly loses his nerve just before closing the deal with the audience.

Still, you can't discount the good intentions and honesty of this little film. Basically, Jeff is someone I'd like to meet, I think he'd be a lot of fun.

Oh well. I'd be inclined to try a Jeff Garlin production again, hoping for some of the same quirky honesty.

There should be more movies like this.
Like another reviewer noted, this is a modest effort, a small but thoughtful and satisfying movie, I wish there were more like it. It's clearly a labor of love for all involved and Jeff Garlin has an ingratiating screen presence, sympathetic without being totally pathetic. This movie makes some smart observations and manages some genuinely funny laugh out loud moments. It's perfect for a night at home.