Greener Grass

Upright Citizens Brigade mainstays DeBoer and Luebbe offer a ridiculous comedy that satirizes the judgmental politeness in suburban America. Greener Grass isn't bad -- it's just so unusual that many will declare it so (think of it like a live-action Bojack Horseman, and it will go down easier). Viewers who are willing to give creativity and originality a chance just might find something real among the absurd. 

A tip of the hat to the oh-so-'80s production design: The movie boasts an '80s family sitcom title font, A Nightmare on Elm Street-esque synthesizer score, and home décor and costumes that are saturated in the bright pops of color that scream 1980s. Reminiscent of The Stepford Wives meets The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Greener Grass deliberately suggests a time when many middle-class Americans retreated to the outskirts of cities in master planned communities. The subject matter is neighbor envy (you know, "the grass is always greener on the other side"), but it's also a funhouse mirror reflection of the way that many people have created bubbles where they live among people just like them -- and how easily they can get trapped inside, with no way to escape.