Nothing to Laugh About
Nothing To Laugh About, presented as part of the Carlsberg Scandinavian Film Festival, follows the life, loves and losses of stand up comedian Kasper Bersten (Odd-Magnus Williamson).
While a previously very successful comedian, Kaspers current show doesn’t seem to be doing so well - and just when you think things can’t get any worse, they do. He’s being taken off the summer comedy rotation, his girlfriend dumps him and on top of that it turns out he has bone cancer! But could cancer be the thing that gives Kasper a new lease on life?
Kasper’s best friend - manager and agent Erik Elizabeth (Øystein Martinsen) - forces Kasper to join a cancer support group. Much to Kasper’s dismay he actually gains a lot from it. In both friendship and love Kasper goes through the expected highs and lows of getting close to people relatively on the brink of death. The key gain from the group is Kasper meeting Maria (Sara Khorami). While they may not warm to each other quickly, the spark is soon lit and a relationship is born.
Nothing To Laugh About can be a difficult film to get into, particularly when Kasper is pursuing his comedy. An ambiguously portrayed audience reaction makes it unclear whether Kasper’s jokes are meant to be provocative, or just problematic. That problem is exacerbated by the fact that the opening third of the film doesn’t feel like it does the work needed to flesh out Kasper; there isn’t enough establishment of his character for the audience to connect with. That means that when we need to have sympathy for the abrupt changes in his life, we don’t. Fortunately, as the story progresses his character ends up growing on the audience and as such, it’s likely you'll be reaching for the tissues as the tragedies and triumphs of this story unfold.
Directed by Petter Næss and written by the star himself (Odd-Magnus Williamson), this film has all the right aspects to tell a story that really has been told many times before. Love and loss is dealt with in a very obvious way, which may be enjoyable for some or simply too predictable for others. There is a point about a third way through this film which would have been the perfect moment to end the story and keep this as a short. Arguably, this would have been a better directorial decision than continuing for the full 106 runtime, however the audience would have missed the opportunity to really connect with the main characters, through all their faults.
While it might start off clunky, both the characters and the story really grow on you. The audience will be left considering what they really think is important in their life - and perhaps even what they can do to find their laughter again.
