** Let's Love!
Can we just not? The payoff is minimal
Chris Bauer, Aubrey Plaza, Mary Wiseman, and CJ Wilson in Let’s Love. Photo: Ahron R. Foster
Stop me if you’ve seen this sketch before: An over-sharing harpie sits at a bar trying to seduce a random man.
You probably have: The set-up inspired a recurrent Saturday Night Live skit, “Last Call,” featuring the incomparable Kate McKinnon. So a sense of déjà vu sets in as Mary McCann, playing a weathered old “Broad” (that’s the actual character name assigned by playwright Ethan Coen), tries to get a rise out of “The Man” (Dion Graham) -- in this rendering a hold-out until the tiresomely delayed denouement.
Raunchy? You bet, with no network censor keeping tabs. The next scene ramps up the X (and the ick) factor. Susan (Aubrey Plaza), a nasty piece of work, schemes to get revenge on her overly solicitous ex-boyfriend, Dan (CJ Wilson), who has taken up with an even more narcissistic nightmare, Faye (Mary Wiseman, hilarious).
Susan’s plan is to hire a “Tough” (Chris Bauer) to rough up the nice guy who done her wrong. Overcoming Peggy Schitzner’s hackneyed costuming (was this ex-cop flash-frozen in the ‘70s?), Bauer manages to suggest a modicum of authenticity, along with a trace of humanity.
When the plan backfires, Susan next sets her sights on an earnest young J-dater, Howie (Noah Robbins), whose kink – when solicited – doesn’t bear divulging.
The final scene depicts a disastrous first date involving “The Boy” (Robbins again) and a very understanding “Girl” (Dylan Gelula, pleasantly down to earth).
Is there a message encoded in this triptych, threaded together by Nellie McKay in various guises (from tails and top hat to folkie jeans) crooning in her signature lubricious near-monotone?
The upshot appears to be that Coen enjoys noodling and director Neil Pepe is happy to give him his head. It’s fun to watch Plaza doing mean-girl shtick, but otherwise this S&M-tinged finger exercise doesn’t reach very deep.
Details: Let’s Love. To November 9.