Film

Lemon

Name: Lemon
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: 2017
Cast: Brett Gelman, Judy Greer, Michael Cera, Gillian Jacobs, Jeff Garlin

Drama

A film about a failing actor spiralling through rejection and self-deception, watching him sabotage every relationship that might save him. Shot in stark, uncomfortable close-up with a deadpan sensibility that finds dark comedy in petty cruelty and delusion. For anyone who's uncomfortable laughing at uncomfortable people.

TMDb rating

2.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy deadpan comedy about a man who cannot read a room, where the humiliations are small, specific and funny enough to make the discomfort worth sitting through.

Skip it if you need warmth or a clear plot to hang on to; this one is deliberately aimless and the wincing can feel like it lingers on your own embarrassment.

What it asks of you: Brief at roughly eighty-three minutes, it moves in short, sour scenes that linger on silence, so it rewards patience more than close attention to plot.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Synecdoche, New York2008

Charlie Kaufman's sprawling, meta tragedy about a theatre director whose life and art collapse into each other. Shares Lemon's obsession with failure, delusion, and the way creative ambition can poison everything around it.

But It's 124 minutes of increasingly abstract philosophical spiralling. Some find it pretentious; others just find it exhausting.

The Overnight2015

Adam Scott and Jason Schwartzman as two couples on a playdate that becomes a study in awkwardness, status anxiety, and the masks we wear. Same deadpan comedy from watching people fail to connect.

But The humour is entirely social—no plot momentum to carry you. If cringe comedy makes you want to leave the room, you'll leave the room.

Greenberg2010

Ben Stiller as a bitter, vindictive mess of a man returning home to hurt the people trying to help him. Brutal portrait of someone too damaged to accept kindness, and too aware to escape self-pity.

But The protagonist is genuinely unlikeable and actively irritating. Noah Baumbach doesn't soften him—he doubles down.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Lemon

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

After the Storm2016

Both anatomise a specific kind of male failure: the person who knows they're failing but can't stop choosing the wrong thing.

Hirokazu Koreeda's study of a failed writer and gambler clinging to his ex-wife and son, unable to let them move on. Lemon's emotional core—the cruelty of someone too stuck in their own pain to love properly—rendered with Japanese restraint and devastating gentleness.

But It's quiet, glacially paced, and offers no catharsis. The sadness doesn't resolve; it just stops. Expect no redemption arc.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping2016

A mockumentary about a self-absorbed pop star surrounded by yes-men and sycophants. The comedy comes from watching someone too deluded to notice they're unwanted, which is precisely Lemon's engine.

But It's broad and silly in a way Lemon isn't. If you want something bleaker, this might feel like it's pulling punches.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping poster

Fading Gigolo2013

John Turturro as a middle-aged man drifting through New York, fumbling romance, and being patronised by everyone. Melancholic, unglamorous, and quietly funny about ageing male insecurity.

But The pace is very slow and the tone very mournful. Uplifting it is not.

Colossal2017

Anne Hathaway as a woman whose selfishness and poor choices ripple outward with increasingly surreal consequences. Genre-bending but grounded in character failure and the damage we cause.

But The sci-fi premise might feel like tonal whiplash if you're after pure character study. It's not what Lemon does.

Frank2014

Domhnall Gleeson in the orbit of a reclusive avant-garde musician (Michael Fassbender). Explores the gap between artistic genius and human decency, and whether brilliance excuses cruelty.

But It's austere and precious in places. The experimental music scenes will test your patience if you're not on board.

The Intervention2016

A group of friends tries to save a marriage by gathering in a house, but everyone's own relationships are falling apart. Ensemble comedy about self-deception and the difficulty of being honest with people you love.

But The cast is mostly recognisable indie character actors, but none are household names. It can feel slight compared to bigger narratives.

Drinking Buddies2013

Joe Swanberg's improvised portrait of two brewery workers whose chemistry makes everyone around them uncomfortable. Low-key and naturalistic, about attraction and the small betrayals of friendship.

But It's deliberately flat and plotless. If you need narrative momentum or high stakes, this will feel like watching paint dry.

American Dreamer1984

An earlier film asking: what if you're not good at anything, and everyone knows it, and you still won't stop?

A truck driver's delusions of being a novelist lead him to bluff his way into a literary world where he belongs nowhere. 1980s Tom Cruise playing a fundamentally delusional, untalented man—the opposite of how we usually see him.

But It's a forgotten studio film from an era of filmmaking most people find dated. The tone wobbles between broad comedy and something weirder.

Chrysalis2007

Both are fundamentally about a person unable to accurately perceive themselves or their place in the world—but here, there's a reason, and here, it leads somewhere.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's (Amélie) sci-fi thriller about a woman waking from a coma into a conspiracy, shot with his signature visual lushness but deploying it to explore psychological fragmentation and the self as construct. Totally different genre, utterly different surface.

But It's wildly stylised and ultimately about plot, not character. If you came for intimate cringe, you'll get international spy intrigue instead.