Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Linoleum’ on Hulu, a Gentle Sci-fi Mindbender Starring Jim Gaffigan

Jim Gaffigan is way more than just the goofball standup comic making food jokes – his actorly ambitions are real and Linoleum (now on Hulu) offers proof. He plays dual roles in this melancholy indie sci-fi endeavor: one a wannabe astronaut who hosts a kiddie TV science show; and the other is apparently the more attractive and successful version of the same guy. As the wise man once said, curious. Writer/director Colin West has a lot to say about a lot of things, pushing this story far beyond being a mere midlife crisis dramedy – but do they make for a coherent movie? Or more accurately, does it NEED to be coherent in order to be good?

LINOLEUM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Things keep falling out of the sky and crashing near Cameron (Gaffigan). First, he’s pedaling his bike to the mailbox to deposit his NASA application in it when a red sports car plummets to the earth; inside is Kent Armstrong (Gaffigan), who looks alarmingly like Cameron. And then life goes on! As it should? Sure. Cameron relays the story over the dinner table to his wife Erin (Rhea Seehorn), who doesn’t quite believe him, and kids Nora (Katelyn Nacon), a teenager, and young Sam, who barely glances up from his Game Boy. Cameron is the Bill Nye-type host of a TV show called Above and Beyond that airs at midnight even though it’s for kids, and appears to have a budget equivalent to the value of a half-chewed pack of gum, and not a penny more. And as that astronaut application strongly implies, he’d rather be in outer space.

This is about when a Space Race rocket relic inexplicably lands in Cameron’s backyard, which is odd. That kind of thing doesn’t happen every day. Maybe it’s a sign? Or maybe not – we’re all rational around here, since Cameron is a science guy and so is Erin, who works at the local air and space museum. They used to co-host the TV show, but one assumes that one of them had to take a job that pays something, and that was Erin. And now she’s about to leave Cameron, too. The divorce papers are being shuffled and perused. Cameron goes to work hoping Above and Beyond will be shifted to a Saturday morning slot, but instead finds out that Kent Armstrong will be replacing him as host. Cameron stops by the rest home to visit his father (Roger Hendricks Simon), who seems to be suffering from a form of dementia; his doctor (Tony Shalhoub) has some unsettling news to share.

Add all this up, including the surreal breaks from reality, and you’ve got yourself a big fat midlife crisis. While that plays out, we spend significant time with Nora, who proudly wears pants to school while all the other girls wear skirts; it’s not outside the dress code, but the social code is a different story. She hangs with the new kid, Marc (Gabriel Rush), and tries to direct him away from the bullies and mean girls and other assorted shitheads. Turns out Marc is Kent Armstrong’s son, and they live in the house across the street. Interesting coincidence, eh? Meanwhile, Cameron decides to take the wreckage from the rocket crash and piece together his own craft to the stars, so he can finally achieve his big dream of being among the stars instead of just observing them. Or maybe it’s his chance to get outta here.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Linoleum is kind of like A Serious Man: The Gentle Version meets A Charlie Kaufman Existential Crisis: The Gentle Version meets Donnie Darko: The Gentle Version (with a scene reminiscent of Wallace and Gromit in A Grand Day Out).

Performance Worth Watching: Gaffigan is quite good here, giving a more nuanced performance than you might expect from him. But the most effervescent work is by Nacon, who, if all is just in the world, should be a breakout star. 

Memorable Dialogue: You haven’t quite lived until you’ve heard Tony Shalhoub say “Death has become a very real possibility” in his distinctively Shalhoubian way.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Linoleum is pensive, thoughtful, and melancholy, and it’s certainly trying to be a deep and meaningful reflection on memory and the nature of reality, spiced with ruminations on science and religion, and it’s also a grounded portrait of the complications of middle age at the same time it’s a queer coming-of-age story. Lot going on here! You can’t accuse West of not being ambitious, and even considering the subtly surreal moments the story hinges on, and a fear that it’s going to burst into its many component parts and burn up on re-entry, it strikes this middle-aged person as a fairly accurate portrayal of the confluence of anxieties that we almost-50 folk must manage lest we crumble beneath all that existential and corporeal weight.

But while the long, languid, arhythmic beats of this story lend it some distinction, it can be a slow and frustrating march to an ending that West formulated to blow your mind but lacks some of the dramatic oomph it needs to achieve that. For everything we see, sensical or non, there is a reason, but Linoleum tries our patience a bit and is burdened by its own calculated complexity. Ultimately though, it’s an endearing film, rendered so by West’s steady, understated enthusiasm for heady topical fodder – nothing too huge, just destiny, volition and the universe – and consistently engaging performances by Gaffigan, Nacon and Seehorn. At least West reaches for the stars where so many other filmmakers are content to punch the clock.

Our Call: Bottom line: 51 liked it, 49 were frustrated by it, so STREAM IT. 

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.