By Tom and Marilyn Jozwik
HE: It helps if a movie has a hero or heroine, a figure truly worth emulating.
Conversely, it can hurt when a movie does not. And that, I think, is the case with “I Used to Go Here,” the comedic story of an author who returns to her college alma mater to do a public reading from her first book. She’s been invited back to campus by her onetime mentor, a popular English professor for whom she once carried the torch.
Fifteen years have passed since Kate Conklin’s (Gillian Jacobs) college days, but neither she nor the prof (New Zealander Jemaine Clement) seems to have matured a bit. The visiting author improbably jumps right into the carefree life of a collegian, while her old mentor carries on an adulterous affair with a real undergrad. (This isn’t “Animal House,” thank goodness, although there is a character named Animal.)
The waning minutes of this Kris Rey-directed, Milwaukee Film Festival entry suggest that Kate, at least, has begun to grow up … but who cares by this time?
May-September romance is an “I Used to Go Here” motif that gives off some rather creepy vibes. Then there are the incidents of predictability, the stereotypes. But it is decently acted (the preeminent stereotypical character is quite enjoyable, actually) and the story idea offered a sturdy base on which to build.
Too bad the building process wasn’t entrusted to different hands.
Grade: C
SHE: Seeing that I’m a writer, I really wanted to like and admire Kate, who has just published her first book. I, too, was hoping for a more mature character and to see some growth throughout the film. She doesn’t ever seem like a thirtysomething on the cusp of something big in her life.
Granted, the whole idea is that being in her old college town – even her old sorority house – brings single Kate back to those carefree days. She’s also undergoing some big changes in her love life, while watching her friends with husbands and babies. Yet, the swiftness in which she returns to her old, irresponsible habits (drinking, smoking pot, flirting with college boys) is astounding.
There was something fresh about the humor in the film: “I Used to Go Here” didn’t have to resort to the crude, totally sophomoric situations seen in recent similar movies to be funny. While Jacobs’ Kate is sometimes pathetic, she’s also likable. Clement’s character, the English professor, does lean toward stereotype, but his portrayal is spot on, as are the classroom and other scenes around town, giving this film a good sense of place.
Although Kate does snap out of her brief fling at reenacting her college days, it would have been better if she started a little sooner in the film to give the viewer time to appreciate her struggles.
Grade: C+