Vague Visages’ Me, Myself & the Void review contains minor spoilers. Tim Hautekiet’s 2023 movie features Jack De Sena, Chris W. Smith and Kelly Marie Tran. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

We all know about the sad clown paradox — the reality that many comedians and entertainers use their art and humor as a way of coping with their mental health conditions. Even before the untimely death of Robin Williams, which brought this term further into the cultural consciousness, there were no shortages of dramas and comedies which aimed to explore this darker side of the stand-up mind. Now, the truism is so well established that exploring it within art has become something of a cliche; throw a stone into any Sundance or Tribecca Film Festival and there’s a chance it will land in a screening of a new dramedy aiming to be included within this canon.

Me, Myself & the Void, a passion project for director Tim Hautekiet, is another indie festival favorite charting this well-trodden path but adding a new flavor with a high-concept supernatural twist. Think Judd Apatow’s Funny People (2009) meets Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843), with an added detective movie flavor, and you’re halfway there. Introduced bombing on stage, Jack (Jack De Sena) isn’t in the middle of a stand-up performance, but rather seeing his life potentially flash before his eyes. And by “life,” well, I mean the bad decisions the protagonist forgot he made in the days leading up to this very moment, in which he appears to have taken an overdose and collapsed in his bathroom. Stuck in a void where he’s trying to piece together recent events with the help of a metaphysical spirit representing his estranged friend Chris (Chris W. Smith), Jack’s life obstacles can’t be written off entirely. Does his near-death predicament have something to do with his ex, Mia (Kelly Marie Tran), or his sinister, not-so-secret drug dealer flat mate? The audience will have worked out the answer a long time before the filmmakers reveal it.

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This is part of Me, Myself & the Void’s inherent flaw. By establishing itself immediately as a melancholy tale set in the world of stand-up comedy, the detective subplot — which could have helped deviate from the formula and distinguish the film within this sub-genre — becomes nothing more than window dressing. Me, Myself & the Void was clearly made with passion and enthusiasm, but none of Hautekiet’s efforts can stop the mystery from feeling like it’s dragging its heels towards an obvious conclusion, never succeeding in diverting attention away from the only plausible third act reveal on the table. The focus on these mystery plot mechanics deviates from exploring Jack’s depression with any greater depth, which is even more frustrating; viewers will be keenly aware that it’s crucial to the arc of this story, but little time is spent fleshing out why. To be charitable, this reflects stereotypically masculine relationships to mental health, focusing on anything other than treating the problem at hand, as men would literally rather fabricate an entire detective story than go to therapy, to paraphrase a meme. I’m not convinced Me, Myself & the Void is particularly self-aware that the characters are behaving in this manner, however.

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There are plenty of things to commend Me, Myself & the Void for. The film doesn’t make Jack either a bad comedian or a terrific one, and so De Sena — a former teen Nickelodeon sketch comedy star — doesn’t appear self-aggrandizing or self-deprecating towards his natural talents. Much like Robert De Niro’s Rupert Pupkin at the end of The King Of Comedy (1982), he’s perfectly fine, landing a couple of laughs, but not somebody who is likely to ever make it far beyond the current phase of his career. Me, Myself & the Void isn’t afraid to paint him as unlikable either, although this is to be expected of a film exploring a comedian’s inner demons. When placed next to something like Funny People, one could probably accuse the creative team of pulling their punches a little in this regard.

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There’s a lot of charm in Me, Myself & the Void to help illustrate why it’s made a minor splash on the indie festival circuit. Unfortunately, the film itself never came together for me, collapsing under the weight of storytelling choices which distract from a more introspective character study.

Alistair Ryder (@YesitsAlistair) is a film and TV critic based in Manchester, England. By day, he interviews the great and the good of the film world for Zavvi, and by night, he criticizes their work as a regular reviewer at outlets including The Film Stage and Looper. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film reviews at Vague Visages.

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