The alchemy of improv

‘Don’t Think Twice’ is an honest, funny look at ambitious New York comedians

In the realm of comedy, as Samantha (Gillian Jacobs) puts it in “Don’t Think Twice,” writer/director Mike Birbiglia’s second feature, “watching great improv is like watching a plane being put together while it’s already in the sky.” If comedy is a science then improvisation is the alchemy.

Following Birbiglia’s pleasing debut “Sleepwalk with Me,” “Don’t Think Twice” is a unicorn in the realm of movies about comedians—the mumblecore mirror to Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” and a spiritual cousin to later Duplass Bros. films (where almost everyone is still living out their 20s while being in their actual 30s) but filtered through a quasi-documentary lens befitting Birbiglia’s literary non-fiction roots on NPR’s “This American Life.”

Miles (Birbiglia) leads a pauper New York improv troupe called The Commune. Samantha and Jack (Keegan-Michael Key) are the power couple. The mousy Allison (Kate Micucci) and nebbish Bill (Chris Gethard) are tentative writing partners. And Lindsay (Tami Sagher) is their trust fund friend. Their three rules for improve: 1.) Say yes (to anything). 2.) It’s all about the group. 3.) Don’t think.

Each show starts with Samantha asking the crowd who had a particularly bad day. From there the crew goes to work, spinning laughs off the likes of a guy who can only afford an apartment with a toilet in the kitchen, or a girl who inadvertently catches a cab driven by her erstwhile father on the way to a Tinder hook up.

Jack dickishly steals their thunder in front of talent scouts from an SNL-esque network comedy, “Weekend Live,” earning the audition most of his friends craved—and winning a slot on the show. While at first the group see it as a collective win, their divergent goals in the wake of Jack’s success begin to pull them apart.

Miles, who also teaches comedy, has validation sex with his students while watching his peers surpass him. Bill suffers the shame of disappointing his entrepreneurial father after a life-threatening motorcycle accident. Samantha loves Jack, clearly the ambitious one, while feeling sundered from her goals as a performer. Allison and Lindsay live in bubbles of privileged ennui, while the others work shit jobs to make The Commune happen.

The relationships between these characters and their performances—carried by the sincerity of Birbiglia’s personal script and confident direction—are the heart of “Don’t Think Twice.” The characters are quirky and tangible, brought to life by some fine performances and Birbiglia’s poignant observations of a life he’s clearly inhabited himself.

It’s a very funny movie. But even better, it’s a smart one.

For more from Joe, read his review of "Sausage Party."