THE BALTIMORONS - Mark Reviews Movies

The Baltimorons, Independent Film Company

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 4, 2025

Possessing obvious affection for its characters and its location, The Baltimorons is a delightful little comedy about two lost people who find each other and an unexpected adventure by chance. The whole story evolves, beginning as a comedy of errors, which finds clever ways of raising the stakes of ordinary troubles, and gradually becoming a sweet study about how two people change each other in seemingly small but significant ways. We like these characters so much that it's almost a shame the film ultimately pigeonholes their relationship in such an obvious way. They deserve more.

Even so, it is a lot of fun to watch them arrive at that clichéd point. Co-screenwriter Michael Strassner, a Baltimore native and comedian, plays Baltimore-based comedian Cliff, although his career in comedy seems to be at an end. Indeed, the opening scene isn't at all funny, as Cliff heads to his attic, sets up a chair under a rafter, and takes the belt from his pants to serve as a noose. Cliff will later joke about his suicide attempt six months prior to the story's actual beginning, since the chair couldn't support his weight, but it's a wakeup call for him.

Six months after that, by the way, is Christmas Eve, and Cliff and his fiancée Brittany (Olivia Luccardi), whom he still calls just his girlfriend out of habit and maybe for some other reason, are heading to her family's house for the day. Cliff plays with and proudly shows Brittany his six-months-sober chip, and after that, nothing goes right for Cliff's plans for the holiday.

He trips on a step before he can even enter Brittany's family home, breaks a tooth, and has to find a dentist who will treat him the day before Christmas. He lucks out with Didi (Liz Larsen), who has an office downtown and is enough of a workaholic to agree to help Cliff.

That turns out, perhaps, to be for the best for her, since her ex-husband has surprised everyone by marrying another woman in the morning and has invited friends and family to join them for a reception. That includes Didi's daughter and granddaughter, who were supposed to have dinner with her. Cliff overhears all of this, feels bad, and invites the dentist to Brittany's family's house. She refuses, because, in addition to being heartbroken and annoyed, Cliff has been a bit weird about needles and flirted with Didi while he was hooked up to laughing gas.

From here, the plot does become a string of misadventures. They mainly act to keep this unlikely pairing together over the course of the day and beyond, but Strassner and director Jay Duplass' screenplay has established that there's more to these characters than they might seem at first. As the day progresses and the night keeps going, we get to know and genuinely like them exactly for who they are.

As that happens, though, the filmmakers also provide plenty of simple comedic setups that develop and pay off in smart ways. Cliff's car is towed, for example, providing the entire reason that he and Didi spend time together outside of her office in the first place. She feels bad for the guy, who has somewhere to be on the holiday and no way to get there, and since Didi now doesn't have anything to do, she offers him a ride to the tow lot—not before he asks to stop at his own place to give her some of his sweet potato casserole as a thank-you, of course. It is the holidays, after all.

To describe the gags would undercut them, but it's noteworthy how each significant setup here feels authentic and grounded. Cliff tries—and fails in several ways—to get his car back. The two try to find a place to eat when restaurants are closed or fully booked. Didi ends up at a party where she feels uncomfortable and unwelcome, and Cliff finds himself at a place where he has to endure the same emotions.

All of this is relatable in some way, and the film's hang-out/everyday-adventure premise is elevated by how much of the assorted neighborhoods of Baltimore the filmmakers show. So many movies use cities as mere backdrops, but this film celebrates the shabby charms of a random tow lot and a car garage that becomes a comedy club at night as much as it does the more obvious ones of a bustling main street and a quaint subdivision that goes all-out with its Christmas decorations. It's kind of lovely in a subdued way.

More plainly pleasant, though, is the bond that forms between our main characters. They both try to help each other, with Cliff stepping up to make a proper mockery of Didi's annoying ex-husband (played by Brian Mendes) and Didi really stepping up when Cliff's visit to his old comedy haunt puts him in an embarrassing spotlight, and, more to the point, realize how alike their completely distinct lives and situations are. The performances from Strassner and Larsen are quite complementary in a similar way, too, as Cliff's reflex of making a joke of everything and Didi's tough, to-the-point exterior both cover some insecurities just beneath the surface. They're both quite vulnerable and both the last people who probably want to admit as much.

That makes The Baltimorons funny and surprisingly heartfelt, because it understands and sympathizes with main characters so well and with such generosity. If only the film extended that to the ultimate course of their relationship, it might have been something quite special. What the film is, though, turns out to be worthwhile anyway.

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