Sunday, August 20, 2023

Sharp Stick (2022)

Jack said it was "extra" but I liked, and we both had some laughs with, this story of naive 20-something Sarah Jo (Kristine Froseth) who is eager to become sexually active while living with her worldly sister Treina (Taylour Paige) and mother Marilyn (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Lena Dunham writes, directs, and has a part as the wife of Jon Bernthal, who hire Froseth's character to babysit their Down syndrome son. Scott Speedman figures into the plot as online porn star Vance.

I just paused writing to read this essay Dunham wrote about her hysterectomy at age 31 (six years ago), because the character Sarah Jo had a hysterectomy as a teenager. 

The on-set production company, including an intimacy coordinator, was all female.

Dunham's husband Luis Felber (AKA Attawalpa)) co-composes the score with Matt Alchin (affiliated with the band Florence and the Machine) but I can't find it streaming. There are 26 songs credited at the end, some of which are listed on this spoiler-ridden list

Paige was last blogged for Zola, Leigh for Annihilation, Dunham for directing and writing Catherine Called Birdy and for (voice) acting in My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, although she had a small part in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, and Bernthal for King Richard.

Froseth (Frøseth) is Norwegian and formerly a model with nine other features, including The Assistant, to her credit. After I wrote about Speedman in Barney's Version he was in 32 episodes of Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Nick Marsh, and he's been in 27 other features and 84 episodes of Felicity, which I never saw. Felber and Alchin were Executive Music Producers for Catherine Called Birdy

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences found it dull, averaging 49 and 40%, respectively. We watched it on Hulu on July 14.

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