The Meeting Chronicles (2019)

Creator Julian Carlile’s “The Meeting Chronicles” is certainly one of the most bizarre and fascinating comedy movies I’ve seen all year. That’s by no means an insult as “The Meeting Chronicles” concocts an unusual tale of people trying to find their goal in the writing field and end up just falling in to an endless stream of nonsense including confrontations with homeless speakers, and overly enthusiastic porn stars. I can’t say I loved “The Meeting Chronicles” but I enjoyed its charming, minimalist aesthetic.

A group of amateur screenwriters meet once a week to discuss what they aren’t doing with their writing and what their goals are for their latest projects. These “workshops” normally devolve into complete nonsense, that has little or nothing to do with learning how to perfect the art. “The Meeting Chronicles” was originally a short feature produced several years ago that then morphed into a 4-part webisode series, and was eventually combined into a feature film.

Thankfully while you can feel the episodic nature every now and then, “The Meeting Chronicles” is able to successfully turn every episode in to kind of a story chapter. Every chapter has some kind of new idea behind it and almost always finds our diverse roster of characters erupt in to some kind of chaos. Directors Russ Emanuel and Blake Lawrence’s film feels very much like Jim Jarmusch adapting Christopher Guest in his own image, with his own brand of absurdist, bizarre energy injected.

Granted not every performance is a home run here (the extras leave a lot to be desired), but the pair of directors invest a lot in realism, casting a unique roster of characters and an ensemble cast that feel down to earth. Often times I could definitely picture bumping in to one of these folks at a seminar or something and that added to the hilarity nine times out of ten. Howard Nash is particularly funny as the film’s primary protagonist and catalyst for most of the comedy. Directors Russ Emanuel, and Blake Lawrence concoct an unusual but original situation comedy that will definitely attract (and amuse) comedy fans in the mood for something different.

Available now on Tubi TV and Amazon Streaming.