A silly and free-form mockumentary look at a charitable giving outreach plan dreamed up by a young Hollywood couple, Lollilove is the loose-limbed brainchild/cinematic exercise of real-life wife and husband Jenna Fischer and James Gunn. Fischer, of course, is devastatingly good as the meek but cute Pam on NBC’s The Office, while screenwriter Gunn (Universal’s Dawn of the Dead remake, as well as the Scooby-Doo movies) is making his directorial debut with this spring’s Slither.



In a sort of “Up With People, Suckers!” twist, Fischer and Gunn play same-named versions of themselves who, in dithering fashion, seize upon an idea to give out lollipops with inspirational wrappers and cheery slogans to homeless folks, selected from a list of needy causes that includes gays in military and the “rabbit-lipped kids” (that would be those with cleft palettes). The notion is that this will spark the disenfranchised to make positive life changes and get off the street. Of course, as a dry satire, Lollilove also finds Jenna and germophobe James in it as much for themselves and the fame they will accrue as anything else — ergo, James’ cluelessly condescending observation that homeless people are “like the end pieces of the loaves of life.”

The movie leans heavily on what are obviously many of the duo’s real-life photos and videos. In fact, clocking in at a lean 64 minutes, it’s more of a filmic art project than full-fledged feature. Directed by Fischer and scripted by her and Peter Alton — who also serves as the movie’s editor and director of photography — Lollilove is no better or worse an execution of the movie’s basic premise than you might sketch out on the fly in your mind. It features a few moments of the same nice, slow burn that Fischer puts to brilliant use on The Office in scenes of bickering between the two, or when James tries to flirt with a volunteer, but there’s still an awful lot of unfocused flab here, believe it or not. Owing to her pent-up small screen persona, it’s great to see Fischer cut loose and curse, and cameos from Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini and Judy Greer make for fun. Additional props are awarded for the use of real homeless folks at film’s end, which serves as a rally point of sorts. Too much of Lollilove, though, is simply aimless; in the end you want to like the movie a lot more than it earns on its own.

Being a Troma DVD release, however, there’s plenty of supplemental material to go alongside the film’s full-screen presentation. Eighteen deleted scenes, a clutch of outtakes from an earlier iteration and a comprehensive 30-minute making-of featurette give a robust picture of the movie’s genesis and development, and confirm the notion that there’s an even fuller cut of Lollilove lurking and as yet unassembled, including a good bit of stuff that’s funnier than what made the final version. With audio commentary from Fischer, Gunn, Alton and producer Stephen Blackehart, exclusive footage from Troma president Lloyd Kaufman’s trip to the set of Slither, an interview on screenwriting with Gunn and much, much more, there’s a lot to love about Lollilove’s extras. If only the feature itself were just a bit sweeter. C+ (Movie) A- (Disc)