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Michael (Stephen Fontana) works in a mailroom and has been doing so for
10 years - and he hates every hour of it, but has neither the aspiration
to get promoted nor the motivation to change his job ... and then he dies
in an autoerotic asphyxiation experiment - and goes to Purgatory ... where
he gets a job in the mailroom. But things are not all bad, at least
Michael's boss is the very attractive Brooke (Penelope Lagos) - who seems
to like him even ... but no, not in that way. And most of his other
co-workers are at least fun to drink with after hours. So yeah, compared
to his life, Purgatory isn't that bad. But then Todd Levy (Keith
Collins), shady right-hand man of golf crazy Jesus (Eric Etebari), wants
to buy Purgatory, rebuild it into luxury condos for Heaven and relocate
the people of Purgatory to Hell. Well, nobody in Purgatory likes that,
least of all Saint Peter (Cash Tilton), who has been pushed out of his job
as Jesus's right-hand man by Todd Levy and made Purgatory boss (not
exactly the best position in the afterlife), but what can they do. But
hey, Michael was the prime prankster in real life, so why not play pranks
on Todd Levy to retaliate - and in Brooke, he even finds a willing partner
in crime. But eventually, the pranks backfire when they only cause Todd
Levy to speed up the process, and when Michael tries to rush things to get
to next base (well, first base, actually) with Brooke, he only earns her
scorn - so all of a sudden, Purgatory feels almost like Hell already. But
then again, Michael works in the mailroom, and ... Basically, Stuck
in the Middle is ... fun. It's not a deep philosophical or spiritual
exploration of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, of good, bad, and what's in
between, it's just a loveable and cliché-free romantic comedy played in
front of an unusual backdrop (Purgatory) presented in a very unusual way
(an office building) - and thanks to a light-footed script, likeable
characters, a relatable cast and a subtle directorial effort, the whole
thing works (even if you think you hate romantic comedies). Very nice,
really!
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