Note: This may not be a review so much as evidence to be introduced later at the stalking trial. I have a tiny obsession with Tyler Labine.
Control Alt Delete is different kind of love story. We follow the main character through his ups and downs at work, and in his relationships and we get to a point where you realize the main obstacle to his happiness is that he can’t truly love himself because a couple of odd habits. The film could have easily descended into total farce, but doesn’t thanks to the very restrained and committed performance by Labine. During the day his Henderson is so earnest and hardworking you understand why his friend can’t conceive that he is the office saboteur, and yet after dark there is a literal switch that is flipped and he becomes another version of himself.
The Y2K panic seems like a distant memory now, but I do remember secretly hoping for a mini-apocalypse. With a bit of setup, and small flashes of web sites with a very specific look and feel that is reminiscent of the era the film takes us back to a point in time when the nerd ascension to prominence and power was just beginning. After working in a more formal environment, and in an IT shop I think the film got the essence of the difference when working with a group of programmers. They lack the artifice of the management school grads. The contrast between them is illustrated in the buzzword bingo laden monologues of their manager at the start of a big project and the exchange that follows between the two team leads; “Don’t fuck up” “You don’t fuck up”.
I knew I would see this film just because Labine was in it – I didn’t expect that after seeing almost 20 movies already that I would enjoy it as much as I did.
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