The Exchange is pitched as a film by Borat co-writer Dan Mazer. The ad campaign conveniently omits Mazer’s more recent effort Dirty Grandpa, a hard-R gross-out comedy that was dragged by critics and audiences alike although I feel like those reactions were over-the-top and unnecessary. This exclusion, though, may not be because of Dirty Grandpa’s negative reception, but because The Exchange has more in common with Borat – to an extent.
Craig Johnson (director/co-writer of The Skeleton Twins) returns with another sweet story about solving personal ambiguity with wonder, caution, and experience in Netflix’s Alex Strangelove. This time, the angst takes place in high school, as Johnson evolves the “teen sex comedy” sub-genre with positive (and current) messages of sexual orientation.
Everyone’s weird, and there’s nothing wrong with that. At least, that’s the message driving Kyle Rideout’s outrageous Canadian teen comedy Adventures in Public School.
Writer/director Pat Mills follows up his 2015 comedy Guidance with the equally hilarious Don’t Talk to Irene. However, his latest flick is certainly cut from a quirkier cloth, but that doesn’t make it any less sarcastic. It’s certainly one of the funniest films of the year.