Aspen Comedy Fest

Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

By RONNIE SCHEIB

A Strand Releasing release of a Shut Up and Sing production. Produced by Bruce Leddy. Co-producer, Eliza Steel. Directed, written by Bruce Leddy.
 
With: Molly Shannon, Mark Feuerstein, David Harbour, Elizabeth Reaser, David Alan Basche, Rosemarie Dewitt, Reg Rogers, Sandy Chaplin, Liz Stauber, Samrat Chakrabarti. Chris Bowers, Camilla Thorsson.
 

A "Big Chill" without the dynamite acting, Bruce Leddy's debut indie "Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace" takes the yuppie manifesto's whiny self-absorption and ties it to a sitcom sensibility. Seven college buddies, reunited by a wedding, try to recapture that perfect harmonious moment when their a cappella band wowed the senior class. Accompanied by wives and girlfriends, they lounge around the Hamptons in assorted funks until they learn to lighten up and accept maturity. Trite, sententious and generally unfunny, "Sing" begins its nationwide tour Friday in Gotham.

Most of the thirtysomething fellas are experiencing midlife crises: One just lost his job and is married to an annoyingly abrasive Molly Shannon, while others wrestle with stalled acting careers, recent divorces, premature hair loss and planned parenthood. Even the group's most conspicuous success is just a TV producer of third-rate infotainment. Yet, in almost instantaneous turn-around time, the guys learn to embrace their limitations and proceed with marriage and procreation. When they shut up and sing, pic achieves momentary, if corny serendipity, which may help explain why it snagged the audience award at Aspen.

Camera (color, 16mm-to-35mm), Clyde Smith; editor, Bill Deronde; music consultant, Sean Altman. Reviewed at HBO screening room, New York, March 1, 2006. (In Aspen Comedy Festival.) Running time: 96 MIN.