Changeland is a 2019 comedy drama about two estranged friends on a trip to Thailand who realize there’s no rule book for finding purpose and meaning in life.
You sort of have a very specific thought in mind when you hear the name Seth Green, a guy who is not exactly a fresh face to the entertainment industry. Even a cursory reflection of his contributions is one saturated in comedy, the actor best known perhaps for his supportive roles and the hugely popular television series Robot Chicken. With Changeland, he does as the title suggests, switching beats a bit as writer and director of an independent drama, his debut, producing a small but sometimes affecting little film that does as it promises but not much else.
As things go in such stories, Brandon (Seth Green), a late 30-ish man, is having trouble with love. He’s just discovered his wife Vanessa (Rachel Bloom) is having an affair with her guitar instructor. Without confronting her, he packs up his bags and heads to Thailand, a trip he had secretly planned to take her on as an anniversary gift, but instead invites his friend Dan (Breckin Meyer) along to help him through his grief. It’s naturally awkward as the two travel about Phuket and more on a couple’s vacation, the men learning more about themselves and their own relationship as new women enter lives.
Light and breezy is the name of the game, Green clinging to the indie drama handbook with tight fingers as he sits dourly in some of the most breathtaking vistas on the planet. That alone has some impact of course, the weight of Brandon’s decisions clearly blurring his vision as he struggles with what to do about Vanessa while realizing he hasn’t at all been a good friend to Dan. Meanwhile, into the men’s lives enter two young women, Dory (Clare Grant) and Pen (Brenda Song), tour guides who of course, live up to their roles as game changers. There’s also Ian (Macaulay Culkin), a kind of life-lovin’ let-things-roll-as-they-roll kind of guy who helps the two open up.
As Thailand does its duty as the fantasy movie land where troubled white people sort out their lives, Changeland ticks off all the proper boxes in giving poor Brandon perspective on his tiny place in the world. We spend a lot of time taking boats from island to island as the men bond and meet quirky types that feel perfectly positioned for such a story. There’s nothing all that substantive to it all, the structured dialogue rolling in between sequences of lush backdrops and sometimes right on the nose shots that don’t try all that hard to be subtle.
This is a movie where a character can say things like, “How can I miss life if I’m busy living it,” and still not be the hokey-ist thing said. I don’t necessarily mean that it lessens the purpose of the movie, but it’s so laid back about its conflicts and resolutions that it barely seems to exist beyond its earnest tries for ‘feel good’ movie making. As a dang-I need-to see-the-world-and-Thailand-is-good-place-to-start project, Changeland works, the film a picture postcard for why one ought to go, but there’s little meat on the bone in developing connection to the story. Green is surely capable of giving Brandon weight. I like a lot of what he offers as the confused husband, but unfortunately, it never feels as authentic as it should, he lost in the loose threads all around him.