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I’m coming to recognize that I am drawn to roundabout stylization, things that become cohesive in their mundanity. If mumblecore is too poised and intentional for you, try bro-mumblecore, a new genre that Cooper Raiff seems to have invented by being a cutie pie. Maybe sensitive-bro-mumblecore.
Shithouse is about a college freshman who is a boy but he has a stuffed animal and misses his family. And then he meets a girl who is older than him and kind of snarky and they try to have sex but he can’t get hard and then they have a nice night and then they are weird to each other due to miscommunication and then they make up and become boyfriend girlfriend. The end.
I have to recommend Shithouse because it worked on me, it made me cry, but it’s so unspectacular and that’s really awesome. I love that it’s unspectacular. I love that it looks like it was shot on an iPhone, that you can imagine how common-or-garden the snacks available to the actors and crew must have been, that
Generally I’m drawn to movies that really take advantage of the fact that they are movies, that tell tight stories and hit all the right beats. Not that Shithouse doesn’t do this, but it also feels so “Fictional cinéma vérité–style films” subcategory on the Cinéma Vérité Wikipedia page. There is inherently nothing spectacular about the main character’s life, it is not presented as mundane or heightened (his vulnerability is a little mundane but that’s part of its charm), so it lives in this weird middle area. Maybe that’s the through line of this column. Cooper Raiff is also addicted to Alex G needle drops, like fork found in mother fucking kitchen 🤑
I often like something a lot and then find it on Letterboxd/Goodreads/Rate Your Music and boom. Three star reviews from all my friends. As if they don’t realize that three stars is five stars and five stars is scary. I don’t want to watch that! It’s too good! I’ll get jealous. And that is the honest thesis behind every single thing I’ve said in this column. Until next time…
Shithouse is about a college freshman who is a boy but he has a stuffed animal and misses his family. And then he meets a girl who is older than him and kind of snarky and they try to have sex but he can’t get hard and then they have a nice night and then they are weird to each other due to miscommunication and then they make up and become boyfriend girlfriend. The end.
I have to recommend Shithouse because it worked on me, it made me cry, but it’s so unspectacular and that’s really awesome. I love that it’s unspectacular. I love that it looks like it was shot on an iPhone, that you can imagine how common-or-garden the snacks available to the actors and crew must have been, that
Generally I’m drawn to movies that really take advantage of the fact that they are movies, that tell tight stories and hit all the right beats. Not that Shithouse doesn’t do this, but it also feels so “Fictional cinéma vérité–style films” subcategory on the Cinéma Vérité Wikipedia page. There is inherently nothing spectacular about the main character’s life, it is not presented as mundane or heightened (his vulnerability is a little mundane but that’s part of its charm), so it lives in this weird middle area. Maybe that’s the through line of this column. Cooper Raiff is also addicted to Alex G needle drops, like fork found in mother fucking kitchen 🤑
I often like something a lot and then find it on Letterboxd/Goodreads/Rate Your Music and boom. Three star reviews from all my friends. As if they don’t realize that three stars is five stars and five stars is scary. I don’t want to watch that! It’s too good! I’ll get jealous. And that is the honest thesis behind every single thing I’ve said in this column. Until next time…
Feb 8, 2026