To give credit where it is due, the “experiment” documentary is a very difficult type of film to create effectively. A number of elements must work in tandem with one another in order to convey the film’s informative element in an entertaining way.
One of the primary difficulties of making one of these films is that there is already a “perfect” example of one: Morgan Spurlock’s Super-Size Me. Spurlock’s film, featuring him experimenting with an all-McDonald’s diet, set all the genre’s standards. It gave audiences a great deal of relevant information, interviews with people from all walks of life, and tied everything together with an energetic, charismatic host.
After the critical acclaim huge popularity of Spurlock’s film, similar films are inevitably forced to try and compare with what Spurlock’s film achieved.
Craigslist Joe attempts to climb this sizeable mountain by telling an endearing tale of community and companionship in a society drowned in technology and self-obsession.
Craigslist Joe, a personal film made by Joseph Garner, immediately puts forth lofty questions for our host to answer: “Have [Americans] become so caught up in our lives, that we don’t notice anything outside our bubble? Are we less willing to see each other as neighbors?”
Intent on proving that one can survive solely on the kindness of strangers in our social-media and technology fueled society, Garner sets out for one month to survive completely off of website Craigslist.
Armed with nothing but his laptop, a new cell phone with no contact information and the clothes on his back, Garner relies on the website for everything: food, shelter, money, work and recreation.
His experiment takes him across the country, where he encounters all manners of quirky individuals and discovers that hospitality is still alive and well in America.
While undoubtedly a very “feel-good” film, Craigslist Joe does not offer the deep insight into American culture it promises. Rather than a showcase of a struggle to survive in poverty, or even the kindness and self-sacrifice of others, audiences are instead treated to what can only be described as a strange, aimless vacation.
The film is crippled by a lack of focus, lack of conflict and an uninteresting host. The lack of focus in the film can be broken into two parts: what happens when Garner lives with someone, and what happens in between.
The movie centers entirely on Garner’s attempt to survive through people on Craigslist helping him out. Theoretically, his experiment should provide sufficient material for a film solely based on how Garner is received by different types of people.
What actually transpires, though, is one of two things: immediate acceptance from nearly everyone, for what appears to be no reason, or Garner just going around “doing stuff.” The end result is a hodgepodge of “heartwarming” scenes are only partially effective, interspliced between montages of Garner doing completely irrelevant things.
Garner’s interactions with people in this film are difficult to criticize, if only because the film clearly has good intentions with these scenes.
The people Garner meets on his journey are intended to encompass all walks of life, and they certainly do. He stays with everyone from struggling musicians to extremely religious couples, to a former Hollywood actress who has become a self-professed “crazy hoarder.” The film spends a great deal of time showcasing Garner’s interactions with these people, in an attempt to show how the experience is “expanding his worldview.” The result, however, is quite different. While many of these people act as sympathetic figures in the film, helping a stranger despite the hardships in their own lives, the way they are presented dilute the film’s main focus more than is necessary.
In many cases, Garner and his experiment seemingly dissolve into the background, as the film shifts its focus to another issue entirely. One instance in particular has Garner interact with a hospitable Iraqi-American family, in which time he learns about the struggles the family has faced post 9/11.
The scene itself is very emotional and genuine, and certainly serves to showcase the negative effects discrimination has had on families of Middle Eastern descent in America post 9/11. The family’s kindness and hospitality serve to make the scene even more emotionally potent.
However, these messages are very inconsistent with the remainder of the film. For a 15 minute period, the film changes into almost another documentary entirely, as though Garner was attempting to address these issues rather than what his experiment is meant to prove.
While there is nothing wrong with a film about discrimination, scenes like this (and there are plenty; roughly one half of the people he lives with share their struggles with one issue or another) give the film a lack of direction, addressing too many issues with too little information.
Also, don’t expect any further reflection from Garner. Each encounter is quickly forgotten, never referenced again, and, by the film’s end, Garner appears to have learned nothing for all his experience. However, there are worse things than looking at too many issues.
For example: not looking at any issues. This film, perplexingly enough, suffers from the latter just as much as the former. When he is not seated in a car, or at a dinner table, having a heart-to-heart with his hosts, Garner is shown out and about taking advantage of jobs and activities he finds on Craigslist.
These include things such as helping someone hang a TV in exchange for a hot lunch or taking a free-trial fitness class. These sequences comprise roughly a third of the movie, or more. The issue, though, is that they are not engaging. Rather than show audiences how or why he is doing what he does, the film instead only shows what is essentially a montage of Garner doing “stuff.” He finds an ad on Craigslist, he does it, no further explanation given. While “stuff,” may be a generic, bland catch-all word, it really is the best way to describe what Garner is doing throughout these sequences: stuff. Both of these problems, in tandem, draw painfully clear emphasis to the final, and perhaps worst problem with this film: Garner himself. As already stated, when he is having his heart-to-hearts with the people he meets, learning of their lives and struggles, he may as well not even exist in the scene.
He offers no insight, no commentary, and never speaks of the encounter again, save for in the most generic of ways. The only words of insight he will ever offer are “This is great. You are great. Thanks a lot.” Expect to hear those three sentences often throughout this movie.
As for his experiment itself, even it offers little in the way of intrigue, drama, or curiosity. The film consistently glosses over why Garner sought out these people he meets. One is left to wonder why they help him, and, in many cases, even glosses over the meetings themselves.
There is almost no struggle and very few moments of failure. Garner will spend two nights in this film without a place to stay, and even these moments end as quickly as they began. The end result is a film comprised of Garner, unexplainably, meandering his way into the arms of Good Samaritan after Good Samaritan. Even his initial desire to examine whether or not we as a culture are reclusive and uninviting.
It is completely lost within the first half hour, never to be mentioned again. While Craigslist Joe’s heart may be in the right place, a lackluster showing from Joseph Garner, a lack of focus and lack of conflict make this film unforgivably bland. Its touching moments at the end of the film are rather being filled with hope for humanity.
Even so, audiences are more likely to be left despairing over the loss of their 90 minutes.
Overall Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5.
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