Lollilove

James and Jenna Gunn (played by real-life husband-and-wife team, James Gunn, writer/director of Slither and Jenna Fischer of NBC’s "The Office") are a wealthy couple looking to give back to the homeless community through their new charity, Lollilove. The idea is simple: By giving out lollipops with inspirational artwork and cheery slogans on the wrapper, Lollilove will eradicate homelessness by transforming your average "homeless person" into an important and loved "happy person".

Before becoming known as "Pam Beesley" in the US version of NBC's The Office, Jenna Fischer had the idea to make the wonderfully dark, satirical mockumentary LolliLove. Two small problems: she didn’t have the money or the filmmaking experience to put it together. Luckily that didn’t stop her. Instead, Jenna scraped together $2,000, a skeleton film crew, lots of real home video footage and personal photos and managed to pull off an artistic trifeca of writing, starring and directing her first film. On the surface, the story seems simple, maybe even stupid. James and Jenna Gunn (played by real-life husband-and-wife team, James Gunn and Jenna Fischer) are a wealthy couple living the good life. Bored, Jenna is looking for an outlet to channel her excess energy and chooses to pursue charity work. She decides that helping the homeless would be a noble endeavor and dreams up the charity, "LolliLove." The plan - by giving out lollipops with inspirational artwork and cheery slogans on the wrapper, LolliLove will eradicate homelessness by transforming your average "homeless person" into an important and loved "happy person". Of course, as we watch LolliLove blossom from an idea to an actual charity, nothing goes as planned and James and Jenna's marriage is put to the ultimate test. In all honesty, LolliLove is a lot more than a comedy on doing charity work. It's a critical essay on the superficial, selfish and phony reasons many people pursue charity work in an attempt to make themselves feel better about who they are. What makes the film work is a combination of James and Jenna's realistic comedic interactions, the originality of the script and the dark, funny and poignant message about marriage relations that is subtly revealed over the course of the film. LolliLove is a reassuring example of how sharp, fun and intelligent movies can still be made independently and on a micro budget. --Rob Bracco