David Sedaris Makes It to the Movies

The first trailer for C.O.G., the first film adaptation of celebrated essayist David Sedaris's work, has arrived.

The first trailer for C.O.G., the first film adaptation of celebrated essayist David Sedaris's work, has arrived. The film, adapted from an essay in Sedaris's seriocomic 1997 collection Naked (probably his most downbeat, contemplative work), chronicles a young, intellectually pretentious Sedaris traveling to Oregon to work the land and bond with the commonfolk. Of course he's immediately shunned, cocky and clueless as he is.

Sedaris is played by Jonathon Groff, the television, theater, and film actor best known to some as the original Melchior in the musical Spring Awakening, but probably known to most as some jerk on Glee. He and Sedaris don't look much alike, but the trailer suggests that Groff can at least approximate Sedaris's smartypants affectation. The rest of the cast — Dean Stockwell, Corey Stoll, Dale Dickey, Denis O'Hare, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario from Pretty Little Liars — is intriguing, and the look of the film seems nicely crisp and autumnal, but unfortunately the movie was tepidly received at Sundance this winter. The Hollywood Reporter said that it's at least a better snarky gay guy coming-of-age memoir adaptation than Ryan Murphy's wan and pointless Running With Scissors (bad source material, bad movie, in my opinion), but that's not really saying much. Still, despite the reviews it will be interesting to see Sedaris's singular, by now iconic voice translated to some degree for the big screen. He's come a long way from the apple farm.