Don't Tell Larry: Movie Review

Dark comedy with some laughs and some extreme contrivances.

Don’t Tell Larry is an Office Space-esque dark comedy, like a cross between The Office meets Borderline. It’s not nearly as sharp as Office Space, not nearly as funny, so it does fall flat in comparison, but this is still a well made, reasonably funny dark tale about how a weird co-worker accidentally sends a pair of ambitious co-workers on a crime spree with way more dead bodies than there should be.		2025 Directed by: Greg Porper, John Schimke Screenplay by: Greg Porper, John Schimke Starring: Patty Guggenheim, Kiel Kennedy
Patty Guggenheim, in a stellar performance, stars as Susan, the employee of the year for 8 years running at a travel booking company. She’s going to be the next CEO; she knows it (because her boss as told her) and everyone knows it, but that doesn’t stop her from continuously sucking up to Bruce (Ed Begley, Jr.) until the promotion is official. One little problem, turns into a very big problem, when Bruce reflecting on his life decides that his long lost son who doesn’t know about him should become CEO instead. Meet Larry (Kiel Kennedy), that brand new co-worker who is so strange that he’s probably a criminal even though he keeps trying to be friendly. The rest of the movie sees Susan and her partner in crime, an equally stellar Kenneth Mosley as Patrick, keep accidentally upping the ante in criminal hijinks all in the name of getting Susan fairly promoted to CEO. There’s a criticism that says perhaps this should have been an episode of a half-hour sitcom instead of a feature-length movie. There’s some truth to that since when I reached the end it seemed predictable and very fitting until I realized we were only an hour into the movie and there was still another third to go. Scenes definitely get extended more than necessary to make a short movie feel longer than it is. Back to Patty Guggenheim as Susan. Early on, she nails that over-achieving ambitious employee without being annoying, she’s funny and interesting right off the bat despite being a character typically written as the punch line of a joke. Her comedic timing and instincts are impeccable and has perfect facial expressions for every scene; and as things get more chaotic, so does her hair and makeup and her facial expressions. She then dials it down when Susan has her few genuinely heartfelt moments. Don’t Tell Larry has a good mix of characters (including a great little turn with Dot Marie Jones), even though Larry is straight out of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and is an exact copy of Trent in terms of looks, personality and actions. It’s not wholly original and goes too far, but it is funny and is well made and very well cast.

Or Something Similar But Different:

  Borderline - Horror comedy which tries to balance fun and insanity.

  Miss Nobody - Murder in a fun, cartoon-like environment.