BWW Reviews: Jesse Eisenberg's ASUNCION Brings the Funny to Off-Broadway

Could Jesse Eisenberg's ASUNCION, now playing at the Cherry Lane Theater, be our modern-day "Odd Couple"? Like that classic Neil Simon comedy, ASUNCION tells the story of two mismatched male roommates attempting to co-exist in a small city apartment. Certainly as the play opens we see evidence of Simon's infamous slob, Oscar Madison. Dirty dishes are piled high in the kitchen sink, clothes are scattered across the floor and piles of books are strewn on the shelves in slapdash fashion. Yet when we meet the actual purveyor of this mess, we soon learn he is no Oscar Madison. Instead, we meet Vinnie, (actor Justin Bartha), a Ph.D candidate in African-American studies at New York's Binghamton University. Vinnie espouses liberalistic views while channeling his inner African spirit through playing the bongo drums, chanting African rhythms and smoking lots and lots of pot.

And what of Vinnie's roommate, the slightly obsessive, slightly neurotic Edgar, played by Eisenberg. While he may share the same uptight, somewhat obdurate tendencies as neat-freak Felix Unger, Edgar appears to have much more in common with a Woody Allen protagonist. He is an unsuccessful blogger, fixated with ideas of saving the world from its social ills, yet never actually following through on any of them. Edgar is also a people pleaser who tries his best to remain open-minded toward his fellow man. As the play opens, he has just been mugged by a group of minority hooligans in a poor, black neighborhood. Rather than feeling violated and distressed, Edgar sympathizes with his assailants and defends their actions as understandable. Of course the irony is that by condoning his attackers, Edgar is being more racist than if he were to condemn them. But this is precisely the point that Eisenberg wants to make.

It appears at first as if this Yin and Yang twosome have established some sort of mutual pact to overlook each other's peculiarities in the name of keeping the peace in the apartment. However, when Edgar's brother Stuart, (Remy Auberjonois), unexpectedly drops off his attractive new Filipina wife, Asuncion, (Camille Mana) for a few days, all bets are off. Suddenly, the roommates find themselves not only resenting each other's annoying idiosyncrasies but also questioning their own abilities to remain open-minded and unbiased toward their Filipina visitor.

The play's title, ‘Ascuncion', has duel meaning. The word is Spanish for ‘assumption', technically referring to the ascension of the Virgin Mary to heaven. Yet Eisenberg uses it to refer to the assumptions we all make about others before we really get to know them. Most notably, Edgar assumes that because Asuncion is from the Philippines, it follows that she must be fleeing the rampant sex slave trade that infiltrates her homeland. He further assumes that she must be a mail-order bride, because she is just so beautiful and his brother Stuart is just so, well... fat.

Edgar proceeds to observe and record Asuncion's every move, while at the same time, imagine a tragic, tormented back story for her. His goal is to expose this great social injustice in the Philippines and become the Mother Theresa of his generation. Comedy, slapstick and unpleasant epiphanies ensue, as the trio comes to learn more about each other and themselves.

ASUNCION is an enjoyable night of theater with plenty of laughs mixed with occasional poignant moments. Eisenberg's character is one that he has come to play quite well, that of an awkward, self-conscious social misfit. However unlike the confident Mark Zuckerberg whom he played in last year's "Social Network", the character of Edgar is much more defenseless, allowing Eisenberg to expose a more vulnerable side to his acting. Bartha is a skilled physical comic and has great chemistry in his scenes with newcomer Mana. It's unfortunate that in the end, neither character really undergoes any profound transformation, despite their eye opening experience. Edgar remains a self-doubting loner who still possesses the dream, but unfortunately, not the drive to achieve it.