The Opening Act

Well, the 2020 movie about working in the stand-up comedy scene actually turned out to be better than I had anticipated that it would. I sat down to watch "The Opening Act" without really knowing what the plot was, nor had I actually heard about the movie prior to watching it. But I was given the chance to sit down and watch it, so of course I did.

Sure, the storyline was sort of predictable and very straight forward, but it proved to be enjoyable enough. It is not something that will revolutionize the comedy genre, by no means. But it turned out to be adequately entertaining. However, it was the acting performances that made the movie rise up and out of mediocrity.

For a movie that has the likes of Cedric the Entertainer, Bill Burr, Iliza Shlesinger and Ken Jeong on the cast list, then the movie was actually phenomenally carried by lead actor Jimmy O. Yang. He really performed quite well and rather believably as well. The way those awkward scenes where he bummed out on the scenes were just cringeworthy to watch, and he pulled those off phenomenally well. This was definitely his movie for the most parts.

"The Opening Act" has a good mixture of both comedy and a good storyline at heart, so there is a little bit of something for just about everyone sitting down to watch it I think. There are some good jokes in the movie and definitely some good performances.

This is, however, unfortunately not a movie that I believe has the contents to support more than a single viewing. Don't get me wrong here, because the story was good and the movie was entertaining, but the plot just doesn't really offer enough to carry more than a single viewing.

My rating of "The Opening Act" is a six out of ten stars.

Some of the stand up bits are funny but there's no major laugh out loud moments for me. I don't know the fella this is based on, I just saw him on Bill Burr's podcast so I gave the film a watch. It does make it cooler knowing that the stories are all semi-true, especially the whole cop thing.

Some great guest stars (as an Englishman I didn't know all of them though) and it is a nice story. But, now I don't know how far the fella this is based on is in his career (I probably should of looked that up before writing a review) but I assume it's further than where the film ends which I'll get to...

It's a very nicey nicey film and I was never bored, but it seemed like this should of been a TV series to me. The closer and closer I got to the end, I worked out what the finish would be and that disappointed me a little as I feel it should of gone further into this blokes career. Which would of been totally possible in, as I said, a TV series.

Worth a watch especially if you like stand up and if you know some of the guest stars in it.

This film gives a great insight into not only the world of stand up comedy, but what it is to go for you dreams. Many laugh out loud moments with this great cast, and a real depth to the story.

The story has an interesting idea, but is executed very poorly... slow and akward pacing makes the movie very boring. You see very early on that the director and comedian Steve Byrne has not much experience in directing and tries his best to put his personal experience with stand up on the screen. It has some funny jokes and the right message, but lacks in skill set. The acting of the most actors are terrible (and i am huge stand up fan and know all the comedians). The dialog scenes are little off and delivered poorly.

I follow most comedians and their podcasts and was happy to see many known faces but it makes it even more dissapointing to see them in a bad movie.

Tried to really like it. He received alot of chances for a not so funny comedian. Decent follow your dreams movie but not so realistic. Life is a little more cutthroat.