The BRWC Review: Comfort (2016)

18th February 2017

A late night courier boy agrees to pick up the feisty daughter of an important client. The two youngsters form a close connection and spend two nights exploring LA’s local food scene while their romance blossoms.

It’s a ships that pass in the night romance, with mild flirting and some cringeworthy innuendo thrown in. The pair get off on the wrong foot, and Jasmine (Julie Zhan) accuses Cameron (Chris Dinh) of being ‘sketchy’, even though he’s the most squeaky-clean, meet-your-grandmother boring type. There is little point in pursuing the antagonistic angle, as the pair aren’t up to Leia/Han levels of chemistry. Instead, Jasmine decides she likes Cam once it’s clear she can manipulate him for as long as she can be bothered.

There seems to be a nod to Twilight, Cam is keeping his reasons for being nocturnal a secret, but the comparison ends there. There is a little more in the way of Disney going on, and although they name-check Beauty and the Beast, Comfort is an even split between Cinderella and Aladdin.

Jasmine does not care about Cameron, beyond being able to bend him to her will. It’s pretty dull to watch some rich little princess telling a hard-up delivery guy that his problems aren’t so big: So you want to have your own food van business? Why not just work at someone else’s? See? Easy! Now listen to my problems: I never get to see daddy because he is so busy making money to provide for me. Wah wah wah.

But let’s take a moment to think about the real villain of the story. A shady character we never get to see, but surely an evil mastermind. That lowdown sonofabitch graphic designer who keeps screwing up the posters, forcing Martin (Dad) Hot Sauce King (to be) to work all night rather than seeing his daughter. What’s the deal with all-nighters anyway huh Martin? If you really want to be Hot Sauce King, you’d better get your shit together.

The boy-girl romance is pretty chaste. Where things really heat up is in the kitchen. Cameron is having a mad love-affair with foodstuffs. Not in an American Pie way, but in a foodie-Instagram way. The couple have slightly forced conversation on the topic of food, then there are steamy slo-mo shots of tasty comfort food being cooked up, as though it’s the strangest porno ever.

I will say this for it, Comfort sure made me hungry.

https://vimeo.com/152104683

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