It’s the sheer absurd humor of Director and Writer David Cornelius’ short comedy film that I really enjoyed. It’s such an inexplicable scenario transformed out of a mundane situation involving a group of friends playing poker that I quite enjoyed where he was going with it. Even if director Cornelius never quite drew attention to the fact that a group of friends were casually playing poker, one of whom was a puppet, I still would have gotten a good laugh out of the unusual humor on display.
“Some of My Best Friends” is a play on political correctness and the whole awkwardness that arises from a group of friends filled with diverse individuals. Someone always slips up and says something that is unintentionally narrow minded, and discover they’re a bit of a puppist. Cornelius does a bang up job evoking mumblecore, setting the scene on a group of pals playing poker and they begin tradin stories about their past romances. One of the pals is an unlikely homosexual prompting his friend to scoff at how unlike a homosexual he seems, prompting a quick diversion in to puppet friend Wyatt.
What begins as a slip of the tongue descends in to a deeper and deeper hole as Wyatt angrily bemoans his friends’ apparent stereotyping of the puppet race. “Some of My Best Friends” is funny enough to be taken as a tongue in cheek satire of situation comedies while also spoofing the dynamics of political correctness and sensitivity to other cultures. Cornelius thankfully never drags the bit on too long, providing a short but brutally funny scenario worthy of an online series. I found myself chortling quite a bit during the sharp exchange of dialogue and collective of great performances from the entire cast. I look forward to seeing what more cinematic offerings Cornelius has in store for us in the future. Look for “Some of My Best Friends” when it hits festivals.