My overall impression
It seems like everyday someone posts a new TED talk or motivational speech on Facebook. James Robinson has taken this trend of “this speech will change your life” and made an engaging satire on how we convince ourselves and others to lead better lives. First up is Lucy (Scarlet Bermingham) who tells us bullshit ourselves and just tell ourselves that we’re “freakin’ awesome.” Next is Mark (Eric Pierce) who says the secret to happiness is to be like sheep and to look at pictures of pugs. Third up is Joan (Emily Thomas) who says thanks to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups there’s no such thing as free will. And lastly is Matthew who argues the way to move forward is sideways using a story of how he lost his virginity as an example.
There are a few theatrical moments where the action breaks from the “presenter” mode into a flashback – this is only used a couple of times and would’ve been nice to see throughout. The script is funny, but its comment on extremes of motivational speaking could’ve been pushed even further. The end tries to take an extreme turn, but doesn’t quite have the impact it should. The acting is spot on and though I won’t give it away here, the person who “wins” is definitely the best of the four.
