Comedy

This year’s Sundance felt marked by great uncertainty. Personally, I was never quite sure how to feel, as the many unknowns of next year’s move to Boulder meant that it was unclear how much this year was supposed to feel like the end of something or the start of a new beginning. I didn’t know just how mournful to be, though, as the festival marched along, it became clear there was a space for nostalgic reflections.

The first movie I ever saw at Sundance was Andrew Fleming’s comedy “Hamlet 2” in the Library Center Theatre. Which means it was 2008 and I was then an intrepid freelancer who talked my way into sleeping on a recliner at a condo rented by The Times until staffers trickled out and I eventually had the place to myself because of the vagaries of an extended rental agreement. Which is how I found myself, entirely unexpectedly, in a room interviewing all of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, who were in town for their tour documentary “CSNY/Déjà Vu.”

That sense of surprise and discovery — and in-person interactions that likely wouldn’t happen anywhere else — are what have brought me back to the festival every year I could manage since. It’s exactly why I have been a huge fan of the festival’s NEXT section, made up of films that don’t quite fit elsewhere in the program. A standout this year was Georgia Bernstein’s debut feature, “Night Nurse,” a film of assured poise about a young woman (a compelling Cemre Paskoy) who takes a job at a retirement home only to find herself drawn into a series of phone scams, erotic role play and psychosexual transference with one the clients. Recommending the film to colleagues feels a little like an HR violation, but the kinky undercurrents and unsettling emotions are worth it.

Cemre Paksoy and Bruce McKenzie in the movie “Night Nurse.”

(Lidia Nikonova / Sundance Institute)

Many conversations around the festival seemed to firmly center on “The Invite” and “Josephine,” but another film people consistently brought up was “Wicker.” Written and directed by Eleanor Wilson and Alex Huston Fischer, adapting a short story by Ursula Wills-Jones, the film takes place in an unspecified time and place: a sort of medieval-ish middle European village of the mind, in which an unmarried woman (Olivia Colman) asks a local basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a husband. That he comes out looking like Alexander Skarsgård sets the whole town into a tizzy. Nimble and inventive, with convincing special effects work, the film is a charming parable that continually finds ways to reset itself.

It is unclear just how planned it was, but there could have been no better film than “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” to be the final fiction feature to debut in the Eccles Theatre, one of the festival’s most storied venues. Character actor Noah Segan’s directorial debut, the movie is a warmly elegiac portrait of the city and the pain of recognizing when your time has passed. Led by a quietly commanding lead performance by John Turturro, the film also features Steve Buscemi and Giancarlo Esposito in supporting roles.

As the trio took the stage with Segan and other cast members after the film, it quickly became apparent how special it was to have those three actors there in that moment. Buscemi rattled off a quietly astounding number of films he has appeared in with “New York” in the title — “New York Stories,” “Slaves of New York,” “King of New York” — while Turturro spoke movingly about his relationship with Robert Redford, whose absence hung heavy over the entire festival.

John Turturro in the move “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York.”

(MRC II Distribution Co. L.P. / Sundance Institute)

As Esposito began talking about what Sundance has meant to him over the years, his words took on a fierce momentum. He recalled when he first came to the festival in the ’90s, he was “ecstatic because it gave a voice to those who didn’t have a voice. … We didn’t come to sell a film to a big studio. We came to share our small movie with human beings that could really see themselves in a mirror on the screen.”

Of Redford, he added, “His vision is priceless. It’s the gem that we all hope for. It’s the juice of why we live. It’s the connection of why this movie works. It’s the love of what we do. This, to me, will stick with me for the rest of my life. My interactions with this man who started this festival will always be a beacon of light in my creative process.”

It was a beautiful and inspiring way to leave that theater for the last time and, in turn, leave Park City behind for a future that, while full of unknowns, will for now also hold the promise of new discoveries to come.

A reality TV series dubbed the ‘best show ever’ is returning for a second series and fans are predicting a ‘wild ride’.

A reality TV series that has been branded the “funniest show” is returning three years after its first season.

Social experiment Jury Duty first aired on Amazon Freevee in 2023, with a second instalment hitting Amazon Prime Video in March this year.

The hoax sitcom follows a fake jury trial, with construction worker Ronald Gladden serving as a juror, unaware that the proceedings around him aren’t real.

Starring James Marsden as a fake juror, portraying an over-exaggerated, parodied version of himself, and a series of actors as the other jurors, including one who keeps falling asleep, Jury Duty shows the inner workings of a trial in the US.

Everything that goes on is entirely planned, unbeknownst to Ronald, who thinks the people around him are actually as chaotic as they seem.

The documentary-style comedy sees Ronald share his baffled thoughts to the camera before realising what actually happened.

He later won $100,000 as part of the experience, saying his life “completely changed overnight” once it aired.

He added, “I had a feeling in my gut the whole time that something wasn’t right. They got me on camera multiple times saying, ‘I feel like I’m on reality TV. Like, this can’t be real. What’s going on?”

“The day of the reveal, everyone was so quick to let me know that, like, ‘Hey, we understand that none of this was real. But the one thing—that the relationships we formed were real.”

“They were so quick to just let me know that that wasn’t fake. And that honestly is what made the whole thing worth it for me.”

The series received a roaring response from critics and audiences alike, with three Emmy nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Peabody Award.

It is now set to return, Amazon Prime confirmed, but this time, Ronald will be free from the chaos.

A teaser trailer was posted on social media, captioned: “Welcome to the retreat. Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat premieres March 20 on @primevideo.”

The video took a look back at the original series, before teasing: “Now, we’re following a business on their annual company retreat. Except this is not a real company. It’s fake. Everyone involved is an actor. Except Anthony.”

One person is then heard saying: “If I go home and tell my parents about this stuff, they’re gonna be like, ‘You’re lying’.”

As per Deadline, Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat will follow a corporate offsite event at a family-owned hot sauce company, with Anthony featuring as a recently hired temporary worker.

The entire experience will be staged, with every “colleague” assigned a role around him, and scenes in conference rooms and during downtime, all orchestrated.

When the founder announces he’s preparing to step down, the retreat transforms into a clash between corporate ambitions and small-business values, with the future of the company and whose hands it will fall into all up in the air.

Fans have been left over the moon at the glimpse of a new season, with one writing: “I’m so excited to see this.”

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website

“Season 1 was too good, we are ready!” another wrote, as a third said: “Best. Show. EVER. Can’t wait for S2!”

“I don’t know how you can top the original, but I’m dying to see!!!!” someone else said.

Another commented, “If this is even half as chaotic as Jury Duty, we are in for a wild ride. But honestly, am I the only one wondering if they can actually pull off the ‘fake person’ trope again without everyone being suspicious? The bar is set so high. I just hope it’s actual comedy and not just another over-produced ‘reality’ mess. March 20th can’t come soon enough. I need to see if this lives up to the hype or if it’s just a one-hit wonder.”

When previously discussing possible future seasons of Jury Duty, showrunner Cody Heller told Variety: “Obviously, it would have to be a whole different universe. You couldn’t just do jury duty again, because then people would be like, “Wait a second”.

“But I do think that it’s possible. I do think there’s a million different worlds that this kind of thing could exist in.”

Jury Duty is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.