Relationship Spotlight: Brendon Small, Melissa Robbins & Jason Penopolis (Home Movies)

It’s high time another trio joined the Potter gang as a Relationship Spotlight triple threat.  There are oodles of reasons to love Home Movies, and some of the others – the fantastically bad movies, McGuirk’s ludicrousness, hilarious supporting characters like Erik or Mr. Lynch – may loom a little larger, but the relationship between the core three is a consistently entertaining asset for the show.

We don’t know when or why Brendon, Melissa, and Jason (aged 8, 8, and 7) started making movies together, but by the time the series begins, that’s Their Thing.  It’s what they do – making sets in Brendon’s basement, writing scripts, obsessing over fish-eye lenses, and shooting spy movies mid-soccer game.  Other people sometimes get involved, of course; some are cajoled, others leap at the chance, and still others beg for it but are shut out.  However, it’s clear that they’re just day players – Brendon, Jason, and Melissa are where it’s at.

Even though their dialogue and perspectives are often far more mature than their ages would suggest, I like that the show never quite loses sight of the fact that they’re little kids.  Despite the sophisticated game they talk, they can’t manage conflicts to save their lives, and their movie shoots are plagued with frequent power struggles.  Brendon is tightly wound and tends to perceive any on-set dissent as a knock on his skills as a writer/director/actor.  It’s not unusual for Melissa to solve problems with her fists, and given the smallest shred of authority, Jason goes full-on dictatorial.  Every once in a while, they have earnest blowouts that result in Brendon firing everyone or someone loudly breaking from the group, and these fights occasionally happen while the camera’s running and wind up in the movies themselves (evidently, 8-year-olds “never fix anything in post.”)

The above may seem like an odd reason to enjoy the relationship, but first, it’s endlessly watchable.  I can’t get enough of these kids squabbling and throwing their egos around, and it’s fun to see one of them go off on an especially immature tear when they usually act so grown-up.  Second, it’s a testament to their bond that they continually recover from these rifts and get back together.  All three are simultaneously insecure and conceited to varying degrees, and their feelings bruise easily, but they always make up in the end. 

A big part of it, undoubtedly, is the movies.  For whatever reason, Brendon, Melissa, and Jason have eschewed most typical elementary pastimes and instead devote their time, energy, and imagination to filmmaking.  They reference Truffaut and Das Boot, they know how to write slug lines, and they work in every genre from romantic comedy to wuxia.  They’re friends because they’re the only ones who do what they do.  Even when other kids are cast in extra roles, they’re playing – Brendon, Jason, and Melissa are working.  If they weren’t together, where else would they go?  What else would they do?  Every time they have a temporary falling out, it’s painfully clear that they don’t really know how to fit in anyone else’s company, doing “normal kid things,” and that’s what gets them past any fights or slights.  At some point, they found one another and found their niche, and now, nothing else feels quite as right.  I really love that about them.