Jesse Eisenberg's "Asuncion"

[uwsman2]

Saw this play yesterday afternoon. Jesse Eisenberg, he of the curly hair and semi-autistic manner as Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network," has written what he claims to be a comedy and is presenting it at the Cherry Lane Theater. Eisenberg plays the central character, a nerdy collegian would-be journalist with lots of irritating nervous ticks, engaged in a bromance with his freshman English TA, a stoner with a breezy manner. Eisenberg's character lives with the TA, but sleeps on a big beanbag on the floor in the living room because these are purportedly not gay boys. Things get complicated when Eisenberg's brother dumps his new wife on them for a few days for reasons never credibly explained. She's a hot young Filipino with a forward disposition. The whole thing doesn't work very well. It feels like something that was not really ready to be presented before an audience. But Eisenberg is cute, and the guy who plays the TA, Justin Bartha, is hot.

[+ Lucky]

The bf and I saw this Saturday night after a day of trudging through snow, rain, and slush. Damn it was cold. So when we sat in our front row seats, we had a great time watching Jesse Eisenberg perform. I found him to be very charming. The show, while light, is funny. It's about making assumptions and how you can go wrong with that. I am always glad to see someone else's take on a show I saw, because it interests me how folks can react so differently to a show.