Brigsby Bear was the weird-buzz hit of Sundance, gathering solid reviews (THR dubbed it “a charming, surprisingly underplayed paean to pop-culture obsession”) and befuddled head shakes in roughly equal measure. Its mixture of warmth, humor, and kiddie TV sci-fi might seem like a tough sell, but Sony Pictures Classics snapped it up clear back in January with an eye on summer counter-programming, and now we’re getting our first look at how they’re marketing it:
It’s the kind of vague-yet-compelling salesmanship that we frankly don’t see enough of these days – and that tends to keep away audiences who are used to being spoon-fed entire narratives in two minutes. There are flashes here that make sense, if you know the film’s story; if you don’t, you can still go in cold, but with some sense of its whimsical style and impressive personnel (including Claire Danes, Mark Hamill, Matt Walsh, Greg Kinnear, Andy Samberg, and star Kyle Mooney, who co-wrote).
Brigsby Bear opens July 28th in limited release.