While she’s famous today as Pam from The Office, St. Louis native Jenna Fischer was unknown in the early 2000s. She moved to LA in 1998, mostly landing small parts in Spin City, Cold Case, and That 70’s Show. Shortly after moving, she attended a charity event for a low-income school, where she saw something that stuck with her. While everyone in attendance was formally dressed and eating fancy meals, the schoolchildren were forced to sing. Two years after moving, Fischer married aspiring filmmaker and fellow St. Louisan James Gunn, who had just done The Specials. With Gunn’s help, she took the charity event experience and started working on a mockumentary about wealthy people doing charity. With a budget of $2,000, filming was done mostly on weekends over four years with Jenna, James, and their friends. Upon completion, LolliLove premiered at the St. Louis International Film Festival in November 2004.
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Synopsis
Jenna (Jenna Fischer) and James (James Gunn) are a young, hip couple living in Southern California with a dream. Wanting to help others, as well as get name recognition, Jenna and James decide to start a charity program. Dubbed “LolliLove,” the program entails giving a lollipop with an inspirational drawing/message to a homeless person to brighten their day. They try getting help from their wealthy friends Jason (Jason Segel) and Linda (Linda Cardellini), but neither is interested. As the couple struggles to get the program off the ground, Jenna and James’ marriage gets rocky. They try talking with Father Lloyd (Lloyd Kaufman) to fix their marriage while working on bringing their charity to life. Thankfully, with help from her friends Sarah (Sarah Sido), Michelle (Michelle Gunn), and Judy (Judy Greer), things are a go. Will their charity program succeed or fail like so many others?
Review
LolliLove is a wicked satire that pokes fun at the hypocrisy of well-to-do trying to do charity for selfish reasons. The characters claim they want to help the poor, but it’s clear they’re only doing it for attention. While they talk of wanting to do good, they’re immediately put off once they meet the homeless. When James and Jenna do a presentation to try and get a sponsor, it’s so artificial that it’s hilarious. Fischer perfectly captures how ridiculous it is that certain people only do charity for self-love and recognition. Aside from them being married at the time, Fischer and Gunn play off each other well and have great chemistry. The film is worth watching to see future superstars like Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, and Judy Greer. Along with Fischer and Gunn, the supporting cast gets the satire and plays along with it.
The mockumentary style works for this film, and it weirdly predicts Jenna Fischer’s future success with The Office. Framing this like a documentary adds a sense of realism to where you believe the ridiculousness on screen. Admittedly, the movie’s not quite spot-on as similar mockumentaries like This Is Spinal Tap, but it still works. The film goes by quickly at a little over an hour, though there is some padding that drags it down. It doesn’t help that much of the dialogue was improvised, which makes the film feel unstructured. Also, the film’s satire might put off some audiences and make them think it discourages trying to be charitable. However, Fischer and company never intended to make that point, but rather that even the most well-intentioned can stumble. Overall, LolliLove is a brilliantly witty social satire that, while uneven, is still relevant today.
Buy LolliLove from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3m8cd9v.
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