Meeting Spencer (2010) - Mowbray's flawed New York showbiz satire

♥♥♥

 

Jeffrey Tambor's head serves as the olive in the Martini on the poster for Malcolm Mowbray's Meeting Spencer

 

A prominent New York theater director returns home after a blunder in Hollywood for a meeting with a young actor and others at a steakhouse in the city to discuss the funding for his next play.

 

Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent (2014-16)) is wonderful and really inhabits his part here. Jesse Plemons (Black Mass (2015)) is charming and well-acting, but Melinda McGraw's (Hank (2009-10)) performance suffers from a somewhat theatrical overacting. The concept of fitting the whole film into one evening in a steakhouse and the exaggerations of the ending don't make the theatrical bitaste of Meeting Spencer any smaller. The film also has continuity and sound issues.

Meeting Spencer is written by Scott Kasdin (Sweet Lorraine (2015)), Andrew Kole and Andrew Delaplaine (Life's a Drag (When You're a Man in a Dress) (2009)) and directed by Malcolm Mowbray (The Boyfriend School (1990)), his last film to date. It's got smart dialog and the kind of fun that's especially appealing to theater and showbiz-lovers.

Here's a trailer for Mowbray's Don't Tell Her It's Me/The Boyfriend School (1990)

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Unknown (but likely a huge flop)

[Meeting Spencer's 2010 release date isn't reported. It runs 88 minutes. Details about its production and release are scarce to say the least. It is produced by George G. Braunstein Productions as its only credit. The film played at the Milano International Film Festival, where it won two awards and was nominated for three more. Concealing all the details must, I suspect, point to the film's being a huge flop if not worse. Meeting Spencer is rotten at 33 % with a 4.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Meeting Spencer?