Brad Evans and Nick Ciarelli: Kings of Letterboxd

Photo: Nick Ciarelli and Brad Evans

For all the talk about how 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick saved the movie industry by getting people to return to movie theaters after the pandemic, it’s unfortunate so many people neglected to ask the most important question of all: Are movie theaters even the right environments for movies? One particularly avid Letterboxd user named Dustin begs to differ. “I watch movies the way they’re meant to be watched,” he says, a laptop propped open on his lap simultaneously playing The Irishman and an episode of American Dad. “At 1.5 times speed on a scorching hot Toshiba laptop that rests directly on my penis.” Martin Scorcese would be proud.

In reality, Dustin is a character played by comedian Brad Evans, who, as part of his latest sketch with comedian Nick Ciarelli, expertly skewers the types of performative film buffs who obsessively manicure their Letterboxd profiles to prove their cinephilia. “Hey, I’m Isaac, and I love all things A24,” says Ciarelli, wearing a shirt that says “A Film by Nora Ephron.” “For those of you who don’t know A24, they basically make Marvel movies for guys who weigh 135 pounds.”

The video, styled as a fake Letterboxd promo where Dustin and Isaac visit the company’s offices, is an extension of a bit Evans and Ciarelli performed on episode 754 of Comedy Bang Bang, “Top Letterboxd Reviews.” The pair’s characters go on to share some of their favorite contributions to the site. “I really wanted to like this movie, but unfortunately Call Me by Your Name doesn’t pass the ‘betch-del’ test,” says Isaac. “Both of the gay men in this movie should have been played by women, and instead of having gay sex with each other, they should have been talking about other women who aren’t in the movie.” Dustin then shares a loophole he found in the site that allowed him to leave a review of the video game Diddy Kong Racing. “I had to put this under something called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” he says. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is awesome! It’s about a monkey who flies a plane, and if he gets enough balloons, he goes fast!”

For more of the duo’s informed and incisive film commentary, watch the full sketch above. And make sure to stick it through to the end for a hint about what might have happened to one of grunge music’s biggest stars.