An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn is a 2018 comedy film by Jim Hosking starring Aubrey Plaza, Emile Hirsch, Jemaine Clement, Matt Berry and Craig Robinson as the titular Beverly Luff Linn.
The film follows the jaded Lulu Danger (Plaza), who has just been laid off from her waitress job. Her penny-pinching husband Shane (Hirsch) immediately turns to robbery to cover their debts. Shane makes the inane decision to rob the store Lulu's brother works at, right in front of him. Lulu's brother Adjay then enlists in the help of a socially awkward man named Colin (Clement) who says he can retrieve Adjay's money.
When Colin breaks into the Danger household, he's caught off-guard and Lulu forces him to take her away to a hotel. Her reason for doing so is to see the performance of Beverly Luff Linn and restore the spark in her life.
Tropes
- Anti-Climax: The titular evening is postponed twice so that it can play towards the end of the film. When Beverly Luff Linn finally gets to the stage and performs, the result is hilariously underwhelming.
- Beard of Evil: Rodney sports one, that makes him very untrustworthy in the eyes of Lulu and Colin.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Lulu's husband Shane and Beverly's partner Rodney. Shane is miserly, possessive and a negligent husband. Rodney is overly-controlling in a way that would constitute domestic abuse if he and Beverly were a couple.
- Character Shilling: Beverly Luff Linn is subjected to this any time his name is mentioned. He's supposedly a great philosopher, artist and performer. In reality, Beverly Luff Linn is so awkward he can barely speak most of the time and his long-awaited performance is little more than two folk songs that lack any sense of profundity.
- Delusions of Grandeur:
- Shane Danger looks and acts like a big shot, even though he works at a cafe and can't handle money any better than a convenience store owner.
- Colin establishes himself as a trustworthy vigilante-for-hire, but he chokes at the first obstacle and struggles to assert himself from then on.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Colin develops an attraction to Lulu, though he's fully aware that Lulu only has eyes for Beverly Luff Linn.
- Large Ham: Adjay has No Indoor Voice.HELLO SHANE! YOU ARE LOOKING FAT TODAY!
- Manly Gay: Rodney is a big, bearded man, who makes short work of Shane and his lackeys, despite being repeteadly punched in the face.
- Porn Stache: Shane, Colin Shane's lackeys all have these.
- The Silent Bob: Beverly Luff Linn himself, who communicates almost entirely with drawn-out grunts. He speaks for real during his performance and immediately afterwards though.
