Welcome to the Men’s Group is a 2018 comedy about a men’s support group that descends into chaos when long-standing conflicts threaten the trust between the men.
Good-natured might be the best way to describe writer/director Joseph Culp‘s feature film debut Welcome to the Men’s Group, a light but somewhat timely comedy centered on a collection of oddball male characters who make a habit of getting together to sort of hash things out as men. Certainly aiming to be a little absurd, tagged with a modern sensibility, it’s an up and down experience that doesn’t always flow as smoothly as it could, missing beats and getting stuck in corners, however redeemed immensely by an energetic cast who all dive headfirst into the deep end to give the male perspective a little tuning up.
Opening in the sprawling home of Larry (Timothy Bottoms), a man clearly on edge before a slew of guests arrive, we learn it is the morning of the next meeting of a small gathering of men. And so, in come the gang, a collection of mostly diverse fellows with a host of their own problems, bringing all kinds of food and topics to the event to lay on the table so to speak. Invited for the first time is newcomer Tom (Mackenzie Astin), who suggests he’s here to observe, maybe to become a full member, but of course, sees a breakdown in full swing as the meeting falls into emotional chaos, culminating in the men stripping to their birthday suits.
Made a few years ago, the film is finally getting distribution, and one can’t help but feel some motivation is perhaps led by the growing social awareness surrounding the treatment of women. Culp’s film looks to address some of this by tackling a few delicate issues (the group begin their meeting by joining in a reciting of a kind of declaration to take action and responsibility for the history of men and their violent ways, especially toward women). Eventually, the men fall into a circle and each unload their burdens, the audience learning that they all have some mental weight to shed, and for Carl (Stephen Tobolowsky), a suicidal man – like a few in the group suffering financial and marital breakdown – his clothes.
I suppose it’s worth mentioning that this moment isn’t simply an aside, as Tobolowsky lets it literally all hang out in full view, soon having the entire cast follow suit in a scene that manages to spin some humor out of the context, even with a screen packed with full frontal naked men bouncing about like wild apes. That said, there is a serious side, one that reveals itself in the last act as more secrets come into the light, including sex addiction, where Michael (Culp, who displays some impressive acting chops) makes a damaging confession.
A lot of the story is centered around flashbacks to a party where a number of things trigger the plot, putting the large cast through a string of ‘my turn’ moments that give the film a roundtable talkiness, and in a movie that runs 2 hours and 10 minutes long, it can be a challenge for those looking for a bit more momentum. For all its ambitions, Welcome to the Men’s Group doesn’t always balance the shifts in tone as sharply as it might, even though several moments have great impact, both comically and dramatically. Culp has good ideas and tries hard to embrace the male side of tenderness and need for understanding in a time when men in general have a lot to answer for. That’s not easy, especially in this climate. For that, it’s worth a look, the production sort of like a stage play that many will surely find appealing, if for anything, spurring some much-need conversation.
Welcome to the Men’s Group releases November 9