The Baltimorons (2025)
Directed by: Jay Duplass
Premise: Set on Christmas Eve, a newly sober comic (Michael Strassner) seeks emergency dental treatment. He and the dentist (Liz Larsen) spend the evening together.
What Works: The Baltimorons is a one-night romance in the tradition of Before Sunrise. Like a lot of these sorts of movies, The Baltimorons is about two people finding each other and the picture succeeds in large part because of its casting. Michael Strassner plays Cliff, a standup comic who has been sober since an incident at a comedy show. Strassner is very funny but there is also a gentleness and melancholy about him that makes the character likable and sympathetic. Cliff is trying to be someone else. He’s given up comedy and is working toward a real-estate license to appease his fiancé and transition into a normal domestic life. The compromise is eating at him and that inner conflict is evident in Strassner’s performance. Liz Larsen plays Didi, a divorced dentist whose holiday plans have gone sideways. Didi takes awhile to warm to Cliff and Larsen gauges her performance perfectly. The Baltimorons includes a lot of colorful supporting characters. They don’t get much screentime but they do give this film a real-world texture and a specific sense of place. That’s true of the cinematic style which has a raw reality but also uses tight shot compositions in which we can study the character’s faces. The story puts Cliff and Didi together under credible circumstances. They’ve been abandoned on Christmas Eve and search for food together which leads them into one another’s lives. They first visit Didi’s family at her ex-husband’s house and later go to a standup show where they encounter Cliff’s peers. In each case one partner helps the other face their fears which brings Cliff and Didi together. Although both characters have strained relationships with their loved ones, there are no villains in The Baltimorons. This is an achingly humanistic story about flawed people finding love. With its Christmastime setting, The Baltimorons ought to make for good holiday viewing as it is genuinely in touch with the spirit of that season.
What Doesn’t: Romances generally require some obstacle keeping the lovers from being together. This conflict is vague in The Baltimorons. Cliff is engaged but his relationship with his fiancé is obviously strained and he doesn’t demonstrate a whole lot of inner-conflict about his commitment to her. There is a significant age difference between Cliff and Didi but not much is made of it. Once the romantic ball starts rolling it seems a sure thing that these two will find a way to be together.
Bottom Line: The Baltimorons mixes humor and melancholy in a way that is very appealing. The performances by Michael Strassner and Liz Larsen are outstanding. It’s funny and touching but the gritty reality and light touch keep it from becoming saccharine.
Episode: #1065 (September 21, 2025)