The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (1988) User Reviews

Masterfully deadpan

[I_Ailurophile · 7/10 · 16 July 2021]

I read the synopsis, and still I wasn't prepared for what 'The appointments of Dennis Jennings' entailed. This is impossibly dry, deadpan, offbeat, absurdist humor as only Steven Wright can deliver, and it's a marvel. The oddball musings and concerns of Wright's title character pointedly conflicts with the aggrieved disinterest of therapist Dr. Schooner, portrayed with expectedly exaggerated expression by Rowan Atkinson. Though given less time on screen, Laurie Metcalf handily keeps in step with Wright's characteristic tone.

It's a small tale told here, and ultimately rather dark. But it's quite entertaining, and I think notably outside the bounds of convention when it comes to comedy or storytelling generally. The camerawork and image quality leaves a bit to be desired, but I assume that these can be attributed simply to what director Dean Parisot had to work with for a short film in the late '80s. In any event, a lack of technical refinement doesn't hinder our enjoyment.

For the tone struck throughout, 'The appointments of Dennis Jennings' may not be for all viewers. Still, this is a fun little movie that I'd encourage viewers to seek out if they're looking for something a bit different.

Wright in therapy.

[st-shot · 8/10 · 10 April 2021]

Unique deadpan stand-up Steven Wright incorporates touches of his routine into this brief hilarious short about a man and his therapist. Off stage his absurd viewpoints in some cases take on a comic life of their own allowing him to visualize his musings such as bonding with his dad at a parade, sitting on his shoulders and holding a balloon as a full adult. The sessions with his therapist (Rowan Atkinson as ideal foil ) crackle with humorous miscommunication and distraction as he does a clumsy job of explaining his dilemma to a shrink who views him with veiled contempt as well as steal his girl.

Wright is a perfect poor soul lamenting, offering up a fair share of off the wall musings while providing some smooth slapstick such as serving a table of three, deep in conversation, with the same water glass. Director Dean Parisot keeps the story flowing, swiftly editing to counter Jennings leaden funk, jump cutting around his bland existence to keep things brisk in typical low key Wright fashion.

I'm a fan of Wright and his routine and here he smoothly transitions from stage to story that I believe even those uninitiated to his style will find plenty to chuckle over. For those unfamiliar with his droll ways it may take a little time to adjust but will be well worth it.

1988 Oscar for Best Comedy Short

[enviro · 9/10 · 20 June 1999]

Steven Wright is by far today's most underrated comic genius. He has defined his own genre of stand-up comedy with patented, dead-pan, juxtapositioned one-line observations. This comedy short provides him a vehicle to create sketches that explore this genre, with him starring as Dennis Jennings.

Dennis is a person of obvious low self-esteem, meandering through a rat-race life in New York. Wright glories in pointing out the intricate details of this life over the 30 minute short feature - focusing around his "appointments" with his therapist (Atkinson). You will need to watch it a few times to catch all of his subtle jabs at the everyday farces and absurdities in our lives. It's a 9 or 10.

If you want to laugh see this

[yenlo · 30 April 1999]

This short film is the most hilarious I have ever seen. I saw it on HBO in either 91 or 92. The humor is on a deadpan version but is hilarious because the viewer can relate to such things. Unlike most comedy films which contain slapstick humor put in by the filmaker with a "There, that's funny audience now laugh because your supposed to" intention this film just has events happening and you can't help but be amused.

I did not end up caring about these appointments

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 8 May 2017]

"The Appointments of Dennis Jennings" is a 27-minute short film from 1988, so this one will have its 30th anniversary next year. It was directed by Dean Parisot, who also went on to have a decent career after it and made stuff like "Red 2" recently, but the star here is certainly co-writer and lead actor Steven Wright. This little comedy movie also won him an Oscar, without a doubt the biggest success of his career. It''s the story of a man with a pretty boring life and his interactions with his psychotherapist (played by Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson) and his girlfriend (played by Laurie Metcalf from "Roseanne") and also the interactions of these two as we find out towards the end. The cast includes other relatively established actors and familiar faces such as David Hyde Pierce. For the rest you can check your cast list. I would say there is an entertaining moment here and there, but as a whole I was not impressed by this work at all. It has many lengths even at this runtime and could have been a solid watch at under 10 minutes to be honest. Also the star-studded cast is not really elevating the material. Gotta give this one a thumbs-down and the Oscars got it wrong that year.

Too weird for fans of Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller.

[fedor8 · 8 September 2008]

In his "autobiography" "Private Parts" Howard Stern wrote of Wright: "witty but not funny". While I understand what Stern was getting at, he isn't entirely right. While most of Wright's one-liners are more of the amusing, grin-worthy type, at times Wright can be hilarious as well. In TAODJ, one such scene is the dialogue that he and Metcalf have in his flat, with a hot pizza between them. Other funny moments occur in Atkinson's office. The rest isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but it is nevertheless interesting and original. Before seeing this little film, I was unsure how good Wright would be in an actual acting role, a relatively common problem for stand-up comedians (see Dana Harvey, an excellent stand-up comedian, who can't quite get his act together in most films). But to my surprise, Wright is actually better in a film than in his stand-up shows. The stand-up routine is great, but he comes off far more natural and convincing playing an actual part. It's a pity that a full-length movie wasn't made with this DJ character, or at least a (probably short-lived) sitcom - WITHOUT an annoying laugh-track, of course.