Lousy Carter

Bob Byington · 2023 · 80 minutes
November 12 · Regal Riviera · 1:30 p.m.

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After receiving a grim diagnosis, middle-aged literature professor Lousy Carter (David Krumholtz of Oppenheimer, The Deuce) reevaluates the relationships in his life — with his best friend and fellow teacher Kaminsky (Martin Starr of Silicon Valley, Freaks & Geeks); with Kaminsky’s wife Olivia (Jocelyn DeBoer), who he’s been sleeping with; with his ex-girlfriend Candela (Olivia Thirlby of Oppenheimer, Juno); and with the students in his graduate seminar on The Great Gatsby. It doesn’t go well.

In the thirty years since Richard Linklater’s Slacker put Texas on the indie film map, writer-director Bob Byington has been among Austin’s most productive filmmakers, releasing a half-dozen wry comedies about adults in various stages of arrested development. In the process, he’s established a rotating troupe of beloved character-actor collaborators, including Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Jason Schwartzman, and Stephen Root.

Lousy Carter is a man out of time, in more ways than one. Having lived his life with few commitments and a general sense of entitlement, he finds himself at the end of his days to be a bit of an anachronism. And maybe he’s okay with that?