I really loved Andrew Bujalski's movie Support the Girls. The movie he made before that, Results, I found charming, but not quite as good. Computer Chess is the movie he made before Results, and I liked it a little less as well. Put a different way, I think Bujalski is improving as a filmmaker appreciably with his latest films. I doubt I'll go back to his early mumblecore stuff, because I've come to realize something obvious: mumblecore directors get a lot better with better actors. It's been true of Joe Swanberg and the Duplass brothers. I don't know if Noah Baumbach counts, but it applies to him too. I like the point of view of these filmmakers. They just need better actors delivering the performances. Like, I'm not going to love Support the Girls without Regina Hall and Haley Lu Richardson playing the roles so well.
I bring all this up because I felt that absence of familiar actors in Computer Chess. This mocumentary about a computer chess tournament in 1980 has the charm of a Christopher Guest film, but Bujalski cast mainly tech professionals for all the roles. not professional actors. This does add authenticity to the lingo, which is important since so much of the film was improvised. There are some funny ideas in this, just no actors to land the punchlines. The movie is good enough. It's got some very subdued humor. I'm glad Bujalski was able to use this as a stepping stone to make bigger movies. This one didn't do much for me though.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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