Mark Reviews Movies: SERIOUSLY RED

Seriously Red, Lionsgate

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 9, 2023

While it starts as a carefree comedy, Seriously Red suddenly starts to take itself too, well, seriously. The story offers up a pretty familiar notion and an amusing gimmick driving that idea. The familiar part is that this is the story of a woman who drops everything in her life to pursue an unlikely dream. The gimmick is that the dream is to have a career as a celebrity impersonator, which is just enough of a niche, overlooked job that star Krew Boylan's screenplay feels as if it might be on to something.

That feeling doesn't last for too long, though. Eventually, it's replaced by the singular thought that Boylan is attempting to tackle ideas and themes that deserve a much deeper and more thoughtful handling than what this superficial premise could provide.

Boylan plays a woman known by the nickname "Red," on account of her natural, brightly colored hair. Red is a bit of an outsider and an outcast, and at an awards ceremony held by the real estate firm for which she works, she dresses up as Dolly Parton, a long-time celebrity idol of hers, misunderstanding the notion of a "dress-up" event—or falling for a prank by her lifelong friend Francis (Thomas Campbell). Everyone laughs and gossips, but Red asserts she's no coward, performing a Parton tune with the band after being officially awarded as the office clown.

Whatever shortcomings her screenplay might gradually reveal, there's little denying the awkward charm Boylan brings to her performance here, particularly in these vital early sections of the movie. Everything about the foundation of this story is predictable, so much of our capacity to connect with it depends on findings come sympathy for and connection with the protagonist. Boylan's Red is silly and insecure, but there's a touch of determination and rebellion to her, too. It's an effective-enough combination of traits, and we know it works after Red is fired for her behavior at that office party. She had a bit too much to drink and started grabbing the crotches of her co-workers, regardless of gender, and the goofy innocence Boylan communicates here makes that, as well as the payoff, funnier than it probably has any right to be.

Anyway, now without a job and living in the garage of the childhood home still owned by her judgmental mother Viv (Jean Kittson), Red finds herself unsure of what to do. At the fateful party, though, an Elvis Presley impersonator (played by a heavily made-up and almost-unrecognizable Rose Byrne) and Teeth (Celeste Barber), the manager of the celebrity-double company, think Red does a pretty acceptable Parton imitation. She decides to take a chance, and soon enough, Red quickly rises in popularity and through the ranks of the company.

Despite the formulaic setup and the comedic tone of the first act, Boylan and director Gracie Otto attempt to transform the material into an examination of identity, insecurity with oneself, and how far people might be willing to go to feel like a part of something. The central relationship becomes between Red and a Kenny Rogers impersonator, played by Daniel Webber, who apparently has lost himself in the role. On account of their intense romance or her own desire to become the best Parton impersonator she can or both, Red starts losing herself in her role, too, and considers taking a relatively drastic, as well as expensive, step to alter her physicality to become a more convincing copy.

All of this stops being particularly funny or charming—albeit intentionally for the most part, because the filmmakers obviously want to make a point about the perils of sacrificing one's sense of self for fame, a feeling of belonging, and false fixes for a shortage of self-worth. All of this is approached and handled with a degree of sincerity (apart from a couple of fanciful flashes, such as surgery presented as a musical number and Bobby Cannavale's Wilson, the company's owner and a former Neil Diamond impersonator who still dresses the part, showing off his chops), so it's difficult to fault the movie for that.

However, the most significant angle here, which is about examining why these characters so easily lose themselves in these alter egos, is so rushed and underdeveloped that it doesn't register narratively, thematically, or emotionally. The movie suggests a lot—from the bond between Red and Francis, to Kenny's nature as a kind of psychological blank slate, to some acknowledgment that Byrne's Presley impersonator has some significant but unspecified struggles beyond wanting to play a part. Boylan's screenplay, though, seems to think that raising these issues, without specifying or exploring them beyond the mention, gets at some underlying truth within them.

It doesn't, of course, and Seriously Red abandons the simple, potential pleasures and humor of its premise for subjects it isn't nearly equipped to handle or particularly interested in examining. The movie's ambition is both too much and not nearly enough.

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