‘I Used to Be Funny’ Is for the Rachel Sennott Stans

There’s the old cliché about loving a performer so much you’d watch them read the phone book. That’s put somewhat to the test in I Used to Be Funny, a low-energy, unoriginal, and poorly crafted film boasting a lead performance by the always captivating Rachel Sennott. This movie, which I must stress is by no means anywhere in the neighborhood of good, at least steers clear of being pure agony because Sennott is a singular talent who can put a fresh spin on even the most rote material. From an academic point of view, it is almost worth viewing just to see how one person can carry an entire project on their back. Almost.

The Toronto-set independent film, written and directed by Ally Pankiw, who boasts well-regarded television credits like Black Mirror, The Great, and Shrill, contorts itself with narrative knots of flashbacks and flashforwards, which become all the more baffling when the central mystery is ultimately revealed to be… nothing all that shocking in a media landscape besotted with tales of gory true crime.

When we first meet Sam (Sennott), she is bed-rotting and crashing with two roommates (Sabrina Jalees and Caleb Hearon). They are working stand-up comedians, but Sam has hung up the mic due to some kind of incident. The trio’s breakfast-table badinage is mildly amusing, but there's a dearth of any real laughs. Semmott, Jalees, and Haron all have really good timing, and still the material is surprisingly flat. I’m not kidding when I tell you that the best zing in the whole production was a riff on #TeamEdward vs. #TeamJacob. In 2024.

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