With the amiable Michigan-centric comedy Answer This!, director and screenwriter Christopher Farah makes a solid, promising debut.
The movie stars Christopher Gorham as Paul, a U of M grad student who would rather spend his nights competing in trivia contests at local bars with his best friend James (Nelson Franklin) than work on his thesis. He's a teaching assistant for the beloved Dr. Elliot Tarson (Ralph Williams), although he managed to land the assignment partly because he's Elliot's son. As the new semester begins, he finds himself attracted to Naomi (Arielle Kebbel), an undergrad in his father's class, and their friendship allows him the first chance to express his uncertainty about his future. When Paul and James learn of a city-wide trivia contest, Paul fixates on winning it all, which allows him to ignore the fact that he doesn't want to do what's expected of him -- follow in his father's footsteps.
Farah has comedy chops, and they are on display right from the opening scene, which establishes the friendship between Paul and James as they play Trivial Pursuit against each other. Their playful bickering is amusing, and it's edited so that each joke lands with the greatest impact. From the beginning, you can tell you are in the hands of a first-time director with talent -- a filmmaker who understands not only how to make his characters likable, but also how to make the most of a small-scale budget.
But that's not to say the movie lacks production value. Farah lands a number of recognizable actors for small but memorable roles, with Evan Jones stealing just about every scene as Ice, the third member of their trivia team, who doesn't seem to know much except when they need him the most. Saturday Night Live's Chris Parnell is reliably goofy as the MC for the big contest, and Farah sets scenes in locations that showcase the beauty of not only the University of Michigan -- this is the first movie allowed to shoot inside Michigan Stadium during an actual game -- but Ann Arbor as a whole.
Granted, the story in Answer This! isn't breaking new ground. It's a basic tale about a man who knows about everything in the world except himself, but it's well-acted, solidly written, consistently charming, and admirably restrained. Farah never gets laughs at the expense of his characters (or at least, not without giving them some moment of triumph later). Answer This! is a smart, unassuming debut with its heart and its funny bone in the right place.
