THE CLAPPER

US, 2017, 89 minutes, Colour.
Ed Helms, Amanda Seyfried, Tracy Morgan, Adam Levine, Russell Peters, Mickey Gooch Jr, P.J.Byrne, Brenda Vaccaro.
Directed by Dito Montiel.

This is a wry comedy written and directed by Dito Montiel who has directed a wide range of films. He has also written the novel on which this film is based.

And the question, who or what is a clapper? The quick answer is those people hired to be present in a television audience who are expected to smile, applaud, sometimes intervene with prepared questions.

Ed Helms plays the central character, a professional clapper, his mother in New York City (Brenda Vaccaro in strident form) watching him on television and phoning him. His best friend is played by Tracy Morgan. He also is very much attached to a young woman who runs a stall. She is played by Amanda Seyfried.

The clapper leads an up-and-down life, valuing his privacy, which is invaded when a team on a rival television show notice that he has been in many audiences, with many disguises, along with some of his friends. They set up a campaign to out him, big signposts and hoardings – and, eventually he is found. The film then shows his participation, his resistance, the television host and the producers using him, he and his friend becoming somewhat celebrities as they are invited to openings of particular functions, but finding that the young woman of the stall has disappeared.

The clapper disappears but returns, appears on the show, his mother flying from New York and invading the show, his offering an apology to the young woman – and happy reunion with her.

1. The of the director? His novel, adapting it to the screen?

2. The Los Angeles settings, the television studios, the streets, homes? The musical score?

3. The title, the role of clappers, they’re being hired to be in audiences, given questions to ask, the applause, the different disguises? Being a clapper as a career? Eddie and Chris? The others and the bonding, the various programs, the discussions?

4. Andi, his personality, his career, proud of it? His friendship with Chris? Is mother’s phone calls, being in New York, her watching him on television? The focus of the film on their appearances as clappers? Their personal lives? The audience getting to know and understand Eddie, his life choices, shy, dithering?

5. Judy, behind the glass, the announcements, people placing their orders? Eddie and his attraction, the conversations? The substitute, Judy out of work? Her personality, at home, the bonding with Eddie? They’re sharing? The difficulties, the publicity, her going away? By herself, eventually seeing Eddie on the television, his declarations, returning, their meeting, the reconciliation, the proposal?

6. The rival television show, the producers, the researchers, the search for Eddie, the clapper, all the sequences on the television show, his various guises and disguises? The billboards in the streets? The public and their response?

7. His avoiding the attention, with Chris, Chris and his ingenuity, giving the information, court? There are eventually appearing on television, the public response, personalities? They’re being invited to a variety of functions?

8. The crisis for Eddie, the publicity, television appearances, the falling out with Judy, the months passing, his need for her?

9. His mother and her friend, boisterous, coming from New York, landing on the television program, the mother taking over the program, the audience watching, the compere, Eddie and the discussions with his mother – in public? Her leaving?

10. The effect on Eddie, finding duty again, the reconciliation? Her matter-of-fact eagerness? Their future?