BORING BARRY AND HIS IMAGINARY FRIEND | Omeleto Drama

A man breaks up with his imaginary friend.


BORING BARRY AND HIS IMAGINARY FRIEND is used with permission from Drew Bierut. Learn more at https://bierutfilms.com.


Barry is stuck in life. He's an aspiring comedian, but he can't quite summon the courage and energy to get up on stage during an open mic and do a set. Stuck in a job he hates and with no friends, he's depressed and doesn't want to do much of anything at all.

Barry has an imaginary friend, one who often goads or wheedles Barry in his attempt to get him moving forward. Sick of his imaginary friend's interference, Barry fires him -- but discovers that there's no buffer anymore between himself and his difficult emotions.

Directed by Drew Bierut and written by Mark Renaudin, this short dramedy takes the idea of an imaginary friend for a grown man as a springboard in many different directions. The whimsical, high-concept element makes for a fascinating premise and relationship, which is fun for an audience to see play out. But it also functions as an emotionally intelligent, intriguing metaphor for the relationships we have with our inner voices, and the importance of curating and cultivating good ones when it comes to our mental health.

Well-written and excellently directed, the narrative is essentially about low-level depression, self-doubt and just being stuck in the doldrums of life. Visually, it has a soft, melancholic visual style that reflects Barry's low mood and self-isolation. But aided with quick pacing and an understated yet ironically cheerful score bubbling underneath the action, the imaginary friend element keeps things light, engaging and funny, even when grounded in Barry's difficult emotional reality.

As Barry pushes away his imaginary friend's efforts to engage him -- first with empathy and kindness, then with more intrusive pushiness, impatience and even insults -- he reaches a breaking point and breaks up with his imaginary friend. Actor Timothy Taylor as Barry struggles alone without his imaginary friend, hitting an all-time low without him. He's finally alone and lonely, falling into a nadir. But he's also forced to sit with his deepest, most uncomfortable feelings, something that finally pushes him to work through them, out of his comfort zone and back into life.

BORING BARRY AND HIS IMAGINARY FRIEND is on some level a fantasy -- if fantasy means externalizing mental and emotional projections within us in the shape of monsters, angels, or even imaginary friends. But its gift as a narrative is its insight that depression isn't just being sad or down. While difficult emotions can overwhelm us in this spot, depression is also feeling stuck in life, feeling helpless, and doubting any effort we make will amount to anything. The story is realistic, too, eschewing a triumphant ending for a more low-key yet still positive one, where Barry takes one small step, and then another. Day by day, he finds the courage to be brave, to be out in the world, to savor each small but important victory and to be proud of his initiative, even when efforts don't pan out.