It’s Hard Out Here (2022 film)

It’s Hard Out Here is a 2022 American comedy-drama film, directed by Bee Tuttle and Ty Newman and written by Tuttle, Newman, and Owen Graziano. The film stars Graziano, Anthony Jeselnik, Emma Kenney, Judd Hirsch, Harley Quinn Smith, Lily Tomlin, Jillian Murin, Mick Johnson, and Nicholas Galetzine, and follows Owen Garlin (Graziano), a neophyte stand-up comedian coping with his cousin’s addiction. The film has been described as largely autobiographical for Graziano, who experienced the death of a close friend and has had his own mental health struggles both before and after the loss. Vanessa Roberto served as the director of photography, while Jake Woodland and Brock Levine provided the original soundtrack. Filming took place in New York City during the spring of 2021.

Critical reception was mostly positive, with much of the praise being directed at the performances of Graziano and Kenney as well as Tuttle and Newman's handling of the difficult subject matter.

Plot
In New York City, 18-year-old Owen Garlin (Owen Graziano) is a high school senior and stand-up comedian living in the fictional Brooklyn neighborhood of Pryor Park with his grandparents, Lenny (Judd Hirsch) and Julia Garlin (Lily Tomlin), and cousin, Brooke Bukowski (Emma Kenney), who is only two days younger than him and attends numerous of the same classes as him at Pryor Park High School. Brooke’s parents were extremely abusive and haven’t been heard from my anyone else in the family for years; as a result, she struggles with depression, PTSD, and addictions to Xanax and alcohol; Owen (who also suffers from ASD and bipolar disorder) has grown very protective of her, which has strengthened their relationship as friends and cousins. Owen often performs at the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village, where he is close friends with fellow comedians Jill (Jillian Murin) and Mick (Mick Johnson), who are both in their early twenties. During a stand-up tour with Jill and Mick around the Northeastern US, Owen jokes about his own mental health issues before making light of his fear for Brooke’s health and safety; when the audience becomes visibly uncomfortable, Owen assures them, “You gotta laugh through the pain. We’re comedians. It’s what we do.” On the bus ride back to New York, Owen has an anxiety attack and has to be comforted by his friends, to the judging stares of the other passengers.

Owen and Brooke are both seniors at Pryor Park High School, along with Brooke’s abusive boyfriend, Nick (Nicholas Galetzine), whom Owen intensely dislikes but is too intimidated by to intervene in any way. Owen is also physically attracted to classmate Leigh Harrison (Harley Quinn Smith), an aspiring filmmaker, but is afraid of pursuing anything other than small talk with her. During gym class, a group of girls verbally bully and attempt to humiliate Brooke but are stopped by Leigh when she hits the ringleader in the face with a baseball bat. Owen waits for Leigh to exit the principal’s office and approaches her, successfully asking her out. That night, he does a hugely well-received show at the Comedy Cellar; after the show, he runs into successful comedian/writer Anthony Jeselnik (Anthony Jeselnik). The two of them go out for pizza and he discloses his current situation to Anthony, who is moved and decides to hire him as a joke writer, having of started out as a writer for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon during a low point in his life. Owen returns home and gets into a heated argument with an intoxicated Brooke.

Owen and Leigh go on a date to the Museum of Natural History, where Owen points out that, while human beings confidently think they know what dinosaurs looked like, we actually have no idea because all we’ve personally seen is their skeletons. Leigh realizes that he is suffering and makes a conscious effort to be a part of his life, looking up clips of his stand-up on YouTube and routinely checking in on him via text. They later eat at Katz’s Delicatessen, where she asks him if being suicidal is scary; he tells her that it couldn’t be less scary but is instead achingly sad, with a devastating sensation of hopelessness. He then impulsively kisses her, and they go to her apartment where they have sex in her bedroom. The next morning, he has an emotional conversation with Lenny when the older man asks him if he is okay. Owen and Anthony go to a diner to discuss joke ideas, where Anthony tells him that people love “that honest, grimy, in-your-face kind of shit” when it comes to comedy and encourages him to continue using comedy as a means to deal with “the situations that want to make you laugh the least.”

As Owen’s life continues to improve, Brooke only descends into nihilism and heavy drug use. This leads to an argument between Owen and Brooke where he ultimately asks her to look him in the eyes and tell him that she’s happy; after some hesitation, she realizes that he is right and breaks down as he consoles her. They ultimately stay up the entire night talking and sleep for the entirety of the next day, causing Owen to miss a show at the Comedy Cellar. He has an argument with Jill and Mick that ends when he tells them that “My life’s not funny anymore.” He contemplates quitting comedy to Anthony’s objection, but Brooke convinces him to keep going so he can give her a reason to laugh. He promptly shows up at the Comedy Cellar to everyone’s surprise, delivering a set that is equally candid but significantly more hopeful that his previous work. He reconciles with Jill and Mick. That night, Owen learns that Brooke has broken up with Nick and signed up for a support group for recovering opioid addicts, which he finds incredibly fulfilling.

Leigh is accepted into UCLA, and suggests that Owen accompany her to Los Angeles and pursue comedy full-time. While Owen is initially afraid of leaving Leigh by herself, she tells him that they’ve spent a huge portion of their lives supporting each other and that it might be time for them to live their lives for themselves. Owen throws a goodbye party at Coney Island for everyone the night before they leave; that night, Owen and Brooke both sit on the beach and tell each other that they love each other for the first time in years. They eventually fall asleep together while watching the stars.

Months later, Owen works as a barista during the day while performing at the Comedy Store at night, and shares an apartment in Echo Park, Los Angeles, with Leigh, who is working on her first student film. After she gets out of class, they go out for lunch. Owen notices Brooke sitting at another table, eating and laughing with a guy he’s never seen before. The two see each other from across the restaurant and beam knowingly at each other. Leigh asks him if he wants to say hello, to which he responds, “It’s okay… she knows I’m here.”

Cast

 * Owen Graziano as Owen Garlin
 * Anthony Jeselnik as himself
 * Emma Kenney as Brooke Willinski
 * Judd Hirsch as Lenny Garlin
 * Harley Quinn Smith as Leigh Harrison
 * Lily Tomlin as Julia Garlin
 * Jillian Murin as Jill
 * Mick Johnson as Mick
 * Nicholas Galetzine as Nick

Sofia Vegara plays the owner of the Comedy Cellar, with Tom Segura playing the emcee. Smith’s real-life father, Kevin Smith, appears in a cameo as Leigh’s easygoing dad.

Themes
The film deals with the topics of depression, trauma, substance abuse, political correctness, and the meaning of human life. Graziano initially intended to have Brooke die in the film as she did in reality, but Tuttle convinced him to change this which he later described as “insanely cathartic”. By having the character survive and be successful in the film, he was not only able to send a positive message to addicts but also move on vicariously through the story. The conversation between Owen and Brooke on the beach has been described as “everything (Graziano) would have told her if she were here.” The film’s portrayal of political correctness in comedy has also been praised, shown through conversations between left-leaning centrist Owen, progressive leftist Jill, and libertarian Mick. While Tuttle is an outspoken social justice advocate and supporter of marginalized people, Graziano is a moderate leftist with some conservative opinions and Newman is a member of the “dirtbag left”; the intellectual diversity between the three of them inspired them to show the issue from multiple angles.

Production
Graziano, a native Bostonian and lifelong cinephile, decided that he would make a film to honor his deceased friend, Brooke Winters (who died of a codeine overdose in 2015), when he was still in high school. Upon moving to New York to attend Hunter College, he began performing stand-up open mics at the Comedy Cellar and became close with fellow comedians Bee Tuttle, Ty Newman, Jillian Murin, and Mick Johnson. He worked as a staff writer for the HBO sketch comedy series The Bee & Ty Show from 2017 until when it ended in 2019, and decided very early on that Tuttle and Newman would direct the film. They originally wrote Jeselnik’s part for John Mulaney, who turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with the Netflix series Big Mouth. Graziano became good friends with Smith while they were filming the 2021 comedy horror film Moose Jaws, which lead him to write the role of Leigh for her.

Critical Reception
The film received a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus reading, “It’s Hard Out Here is not a comedy. It’s not a drama. It’s a genuine, potent, and highly personal character study driven by the powerful performances of Graziano and Kenney and the level of care which Tuttle and Newman clearly put into telling this story.” It currently holds an 88% rating on Metacritic, generating “near-universal acclaim.”