I recently became a fan of the comedian Esther Povitsky, so when I learned that she was to be the lead in a film I knew I had to see it. I will start by saying 'Drugstore June' is not for all tastes, it's an incredibly idiosyncratic film that only Povitsky could make. She plays June Fine, a variation on her wider comic persona. June is a Millennial stereotype as well as an extremely individual person. The world she lives in, a small Illinois town populated by fellow comedians and a couple of unexpected casting choices, I found a delight to visit.
This is a film dense with dry humor, almost every line of dialogue is on at least some level funny. June is of indeterminate age, still living at home with her parents and brother. She is self obsessed, a social media and sugar junkie, still desperately in love with her ex boyfriend of two years Davey. Davey is played by Haley Joel Osment and it is an ongoing joke how this unexceptional looking fast food manager is somehow admired by everyone who knows him and is considered a real catch.
June hopes to get Davey back from his fiance Miranda Cosgrove. She at one point wants to be deputized and literally arrest him in order to spend time with him. You see the drugstore where June works for her very tolerant employer Bobby Lee has been robbed. June thinks that she can somehow solve the case and this will somehow get Davey back. She sets out on her own investigation, interacts with a bunch of colorful characters and in the end, against all odds, somehow...
I won't spoil it.
There are so many funny and telling details, quarks of personalities and the way people interact. June's propensity to speak in clichés, her strange obsessions, such as 20 years trying to convince the family doctor Bill Burr to diagnose her as on the autism spectrum, she's both off putting and oddly endering. I've watched this three times and it's funnier each time. Again not for all tastes, but for me this is a new favorite. ***
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