If Only We Had More Free Time, Indie Comedies Could Be Different

Drew (Colin Burgess) looks pretty much like every guy you’ve ever met on a night out in East Williamsburg, and that’s the point. You know the guy: A smallish white guy wearing wire-rimmed glasses, white Converse paired with work pants and a well ironed button up, sporting an expensive haircut, a mustache, and a puzzled look that insinuates he’s never done anything wrong in his life. You’re already picturing this guy in your head. It will not shock you to learn that Drew has vague aspirations toward life as a professional musician, but his “band is kind of on a break right now,” so for now he’s stuck working a dead-end data entry job, which is slowly killing him inside.
One day, that voice we all have in our heads that gently (or not so gently) reminds us that we need to pay rent briefly quiets in Drew’s head, and a new voice takes over. “If I have to input one more number into a little box, I’m gonna have some kind of physical reaction,” Drew bluntly informs his well-meaning boss (James Webb) right before he impulsively quits on the spot. Drew is free! And therein lies the problem…Now what?
Free Time, writer/director Ryan Martin Brown’s debut feature film, is so funny precisely because we all know this guy, and on some level, we can identify with his directionless struggle. Unless you’re out there living your dream (which, congrats!), we all hate our day jobs, but those dreaded jobs are also the very routines tethering us to the rest of human civilization. Drew’s day job stands in the way of his dreams, but he has no idea what those dreams really are, and he feels powerless to make a move in any direction. His roommate Rajat (Rajat Suresh) and Rajat’s partner Kim (Holmes) politely but firmly make it clear that they’re willing to help Drew up to a certain point, but for the most part, he’s on his own, which for Drew is more paralyzing than it is exciting. In a city full of possibilities, Drew is unable to conjure up anything to do besides take a walk, drunk-call friends who are all busy with their lives and fumble a cute girl (Jessie Pinnick) by insisting upon showing her his band’s demo mid-makeout.
Rent is due soon enough and Drew, still plagued by indecision and rejection, has nothing to show for his extended vacation. Instead of turning these restless feelings into something productive, Drew figures out that people will listen to him if he co-opts half-baked, Twitter-soaked political language to express his discomfort. Suddenly, Drew isn’t unemployed and uninteresting because he’s lazy, selfish and uninspired. It’s because of the system! “This is why people hate America…capitalism, I finally understand it,” Drew whines to whoever is around. When Drew’s old job won’t take him back, he bemoans the “discrimination” he’s facing to his Black boss, and is unable to see why he isn’t being taken seriously. The only people dumber than Drew are those who decide to follow him.