Filipino American comedian Jo Koy (known for his Netflix specials Live from Seattle and Comin’ In Hot) makes his debut as a leading man in Easter Sunday, a loosely autobiographical comedy that draws on cultural and family dynamics to conjure relatable situational comedy.

Koy, not necessarily experimenting with his acting chops, plays comedian Joe Valencia.  Valencia comes from an outspoken and loyal family, but he’s often on the outskirts because he occupies his life with work.  His latest attempt to secure more of a career in comedy comes in the form of an audition for a high profile sitcom.  The producers want him, but he has to play up a Filipino accent.  His agent Nick (Easter Sunday’s director and Broken Lizard regular Jay Chandrasekhar) feigns concern as he plays the middle man between the sitcom’s interests and Joe’s integrity. 

Meanwhile, as Joe struggles to make the right decision, he travels to Daly City to spend Easter Sunday with his relatives.  He brings along his son Junior (Brandon Wardell) for some father-son bonding, but their slightly fractured relationship provides resistance against Joe’s plan.  When they arrive to Daly City, Joe is abruptly dropped into his family’s drama and he’s expected to keep the waters calm.

For Easter Sunday to incorporate a sitcom so prominently in its plot is dangerous because the movie itself resembles a clean-cut, toothless sitcom.  While the film doesn’t make an effort to rise to the occasion, the aesthetics would be tolerable if the movie had made me laugh.

I was initially concerned because I was a stranger to Jo Koy’s standup, but then I was excited for Koy’s movie to win me over and make me a new fan.  Then, I was worried that I was going to feel like an outsider to its cultural references.  But then, I remembered there have been tons of examples of movies having firm cultural roots that are all-inclusive to its content (The Namesake, Crazy Rich Asians, and Awkwafina has proven this twice with The Farewell and her Comedy Central TV show Awkwafina is Nora From Queens).  Not only did I have no worries going into Easter Sunday’s , but I was delighted when I discovered the comedy is inspired by universally relatable family relationships.

Unfortunately, Easter Sunday aimlessly interprets this material into stale routines.  Mostly due to the bland characters within Joe’s family, with their basic traits with repetitive quirks.  A primary focus is a competitive relationship between Joe’s mother (Lydia Gaston) and his aunt (Tia Carrere of Wayne’s World fame).  The animosity could be identifiable for some people, sure, but the bickering between Gaston and Carrere doesn’t go past petty claims and annoying snarls.  They occasionally break bread (including during a cringe-inducing karaoke session where they bond over a Black Eyed Peas song), but the punchline is always them falling back into their old habits.

The repetition doesn’t let up as tiring one-liners drive us mad, the cast constantly celebrating Joe’s success is an obnoxious ego trip for Jo Koy, and a plot involving local gangsters trying to collect money from Joe’s dimwitted cousin Eugene (Golden Arm’s Eugene Cordero) sends the story in circles.  Because the movie feels endless, Easter Sunday is a Friday wannabe that ends up feeling like our own personal “Groundhog Day”.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie