Perhaps you don’t know American writer, director, and comedian Matt Barats, nor one of his primary projects over the past decade: the REVERIES series. Taking place over three films (to date), the trilogy takes influence from the concept of Jack Handey’s “Deep Thoughts,” the classic recurring Saturday Night Live bumper that fit some proto-alt-comedy into America’s foremost mainstream laugh institution. Thus the films are ostensibly a series of non-sequitur set-ups and punchlines from two rambling slacker philosophers. This is all necessary context for Barats’ new directorial effort, Anchors Aweigh, which takes bits of that concept to new heights with a fresh source of mockery.
The concise, 71-minute comedy stars Barats as a self-absorbed New York–based artist, the kind of person whom we know too many. Beginning with a rejected proposal to his much younger, ascendant-Broadway-star girlfriend, the protagonist begins to spiral—inward, that is. Self-critique can always have a way of turning into self-aggrandizing: one can just be looking for a compliment on growth and reflection instead of doing the actual hard work of changing. This is especially true for artists, who are the most self-aware of their critics in art and life.
Barats’ heartbroken (or more ego-harmed) lead holes up in his sailboat (hence the title) where he eventually decides to pick up both a MiniDV camera and tapes from the past decades of his life. Despite trying to create a self-portrait of his four decades on earth, his observations are stuck in aging millennial narcissism and reference points, including the Bush presidency, 2 Girls 1 Cup, and pre-cancellation Family Guy. As someone who vividly remembers all those things and is also reckoning with getting older and realizing that what seemed fresh to me is no longer what the young people in charge of culture relate to, it was easy to recognize multiple jokes happening here. Aren’t we all prone to thinking we’re more interesting than we are just because we lived the life we did? This is maybe one of the more profound things the film picks up on amidst all its silliness, especially for the first generation to become comfortable with self-documentation.
For style, Anchors Aweigh is buoyed by Barats’ voiceover that often spoofs documentarian Ross McElwee’s disembodied but observational style. And generally speaking, considering the film is almost one punchline after another via that voiceover, it’s pretty surprising when it comes to how high the hit rate for jokes. The generally lo-fi images rendered by his MiniDV camera add to the film’s feeling of parody, but also offer a likable compactness.
Generally speaking, Anchors Aweigh’s heavy alt-comedy and modest images make it a bold programming choice for TIFF Midnight Madness. Alongside last year’s uproarious The Napa Boys from kindred spirit Nick Corirossi, it points to an exciting new wave in comedy at a time when it’s seemed the genre has died outside of the Internet. It’s refreshing to see a film that still plays well with a room full of people laughing. Or at least a few weirdos chuckling.
Anchors Aweigh premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
