REVIEW: ‘Self Reliance’ Is Empty In Its Chaos

Would you agree to be hunted on a dark web reality TV show for millions of dollars? That’s the premise of Hulu’s Self-Reliance. Produced by Lonely Island and written, directed, and starring Jake Johnson, the film follows a sad middle-aged man who is just, empty.

When a middle-aged man named Tommy (Jake Johnson) is invited into a limo by famous actor Andy Samberg, his dull life irrevocably changes. Samberg gives Tommy a chance to win a million dollars in a dark web reality TV show. The catch? Assassins from all over the world attempt to kill him for 30 days. But the odds aren’t completely against him. Tommy can’t be killed by the hunters if he’s not entirely alone. To stay alive, Tommy has to recruit an unlikely team to help him survive. A woman off of Craiglist named Maddy (Anna Kendrick), James (Biff Wiff), a homeless man, and friends who he essentially makes hate him all come into play.

As he searches for people to keep him from loneliness and the impending assassination it will cause, he attempts to reconnect with old relationships, like with his ex (Natalie Morales) and his estranged dad (Christopher Lloyd), who is apparently friends with Wayne Brady.

While Jake Johnson is pretty much a one-man show for the bulk of him, his neurosis and chaotic approach to line delivery can be grating at times. When the film winds down in the third act, Tommy hasn’t changed. He’s just moving slower and hunkered down in one spot. There is an emptiness that comes from Johnson’s constant, manic propulsion of the film’s story and pace. He remains the same as he ever was, and the film left me with a question: What did I just watch?

Self Reliance is chaotic and features an erratic pacing that feels more like a stream of consciousness than throughout narrative decisions. It throws so much at our lead character and the audience that confusion just becomes your natural state while viewing. The film’s concept and its comedy are good at the start. But truthfully, the execution is faulty on all sides. In an attempt to capture the mania that everyone thinks Tommy is experiencing, Self Reliance exists on a consistently uneven footing.

Self Reliance is fine enough as a comedy. However, the film’s dark comedy aspects don’t balance against its pacing. Jokes don’t have the space to breathe. The dialogue in Self Reliance either becomes a shotgun of jokes fired off in quick succession or becomes gimmicky and repetitive, losing all impact. Simply, the film gets in its own way all of the time.

Self Reliance is somehow a lot and nothing at all. Some moments earn belly laughs, but others craft more confusion. At times, it all feels like words hurled at the audience without a clear vision of where to go. Chaotic instead of kinetic, the film is a whirlwind with no true direction to follow.

Self Reliance is streaming exclusively on Hulu now.