dir. Blume

Opens Fri March 5

Hollywood Theater

Martin and Orloff: Not a compelling title for a comedy, but a hilarious, gut-busting laugh-a-thon nonetheless. Staffed with the members of sketch comedy troupe The Upright Citizens Brigade, this film puts the Adam Sandler franchise--and every comedy I've seen in the last two years--to shame.

First, let me say that Martin & Orloff is utterly bizarre. The story of a suicidal costume designer and his unconventional therapist, the movie follows the duo on a few days of misadventures, from Martin's first session with Dr. Orloff to the realization that eventually helps cure him of his depression.

Martin works for a cutthroat marketing company aptly called "Marketing Force." His boss is a jackass money-grubber who will compromise anything to get business from a huge, corrupt Chinese food manufacturer. Martin has serious issues with bending the rules in order to please the Chinese--namely rules about unsafe costumes--but is too frightened of losing his job to stand up to his boss.

Dr. Orloff, on the other hand, doesn't take shit from anyone. He's his own boss and has fun all the time--smoking weed, dating a hot stripper, playing softball, eating hotdogs--and he befriends the uptight Martin immediately, showing him the good life. Martin, being a complete pussy, is appalled by Orloff's behavior, which makes for a hysterical straight man vs. funny guy routine.

Revealing any of the jokes in Martin & Orloff would ruin them, but trust me, there's a ton of funny shit: physical comedy, one liners, social commentary, etc. And worry not: David Cross and Janeane Garofalo both make appearances. At the end, the film devolves in an attempt at a big, stupid finale--but it doesn't matter. From the opening scene, Martin & Orloff managed to make me laugh my ass off, and I haven't done that since six months ago when I saw some guy fall off his bike while holding a bag of groceries. Comedy doesn't get much better than that.