Terri Movie Review: He’s A Good Egg, Not A Deviled Egg

Terri is the story of a boy just living the dream. Okay, maybe not quite, unless your dream was like mine which was being able to wear my awesome, comfy pajamas to high school every day. So it’s not the ideal situation for Terri, played by Jacob Wysocki, but it seems to be the only agreeable option at the time for the hefty, downbeat teen.

Terri lives with James (Creed Bratton), his uncle, who appears to be ill judging by all of the medication he’s given, although we never quite find out what that illness is exactly. Terri spends his days taking care of Uncle James, who constantly checks in and out mentally, by making sure he takes his medicine, putting him to bed every night and trapping mice in the attic at James’ request, no matter how traumatizing the ordeal may be. Between living at home with a semi-coherent uncle and being the butt of jokes at school, Terri seems to live a solitary life and at this point, things look pretty bleak for him. That is until the principal of the school, Mr. Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly), takes a special interest in Terri and becomes more of a princi-pal to the boy. Mr. Fitzgerald makes some comments about finding the bad-hearted kids of the school as opposed to the good-hearted kids, of which he thinks Terri is of the latter. This turns out to be the running theme of the movie- the people who care about others and those that only do what they do for personal gain. We find out later on through the principal’s baby book, cleverly titled “Yesterdays”, that Mr. Fitzgerald was a lot like Terri growing up. He was a misfit, or a “monster”, as he calls himself and genuinely sympathizes with Terri as well as with a handful of other scorned students in the school.

The good-hearted versus bad-hearted theme is emphasized once again in the movie when Terri makes the effort to befriend a recently shunned fellow student, Heather (Olivia Crocicchia). He deliberately makes a fool out of himself in front of the class to take the negative attention off of the girl. Terri shows us how soft and gooey he is on the inside and how empathetic he can be, especially when it comes to a pretty girl. When the pair’s friendship begins to grow, you start to think that this is the start of a beautiful and mostly awkward love story. But alas, in typical indie film fashion, the movie imitates life much more than your summer blockbuster movie does and the romance falls apart before it can barely begin. By the end though, Mr. Fitzgerald’s wisdom begins to resonate with Terri as he finally begins to emerge from his rut and let a little positivity shine through.

I loved Wysocki in this role because he made it relatable for me. We’ve all had our moments where we’ve felt left in the cold socially, and sometimes to the point of just feeling invisible, and there’s nothing better than when a character can make you feel their pain. I can’t say enough about Reilly who made me laugh the most throughout the film, though. His role as the unexpected student confidant kept you guessing of his true intentions the whole time. I’m just a big John C. Reilly fan in general. Who doesn’t love “Brules Rules”? Speaking of Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, I have to mention that Tim Heidecker makes a quick cameo as the hostile high school gym teacher, making us all a little reminiscent of why so many of us hated high school in the first place. Overall, Terri did a terrific job showing that being yourself and wearing your jammies to school isn’t such a bad thing, as well as presenting the moral that the good-hearted folks of the world will always be there for you, although you might just have to weed through the bad-hearted to find them.

Images courtesy of ATO Pictures.