Zoe Lister-Jones and Adam Pally Turn Pain Into Music in Touching ‘Band Aid’

Sandra Miska

For her directorial debut, actress Zoe Lister-Jones explores the healing power of music in the dramedy “Band Aid.” Lister-Jones, who also penned the screenplay, stars as Anna, a Los Angeles Uber driver who is a married to artist Ben (Adam Pally). Like most married couples past the honeymoon phase, Anna and Ben are prone to arguing over simple things like dirty dishes left in the sink. However, most arguments about simple household chores don’t escalate to the point that the Holocaust gets brought into it. The cause of their anger goes beyond normal husband-and-wife-issues, as painful failures in both their careers and quest to be parents have hit the couple hard, particularly Anna. After attending a friend’s child’s birthday party where they are among the few childless adults, Anna and Ben sneak off to get high, which leads to playing around on some toy instruments. Realizing their need for an outlet for channeling their frustrations and creativity, Anna suggests starting a band, with real instruments (not plastic Fisher Price ones).

Expletives such as “fuck you” have never sounded more melodic when Anna and Ben start jamming and putting their fights to music. Realizing they need a drummer, they recruit their neighborhood Dave (Fred Armisen), despite his creeper vibe. Anna makes jokes about his having captives in his basement, but her and Ben are surprised to find that he has two beautiful female roommates (Erinn Hayes and Jamie Chung) whom he met in a sex addicts group and sponsors. Much is milked out of the fact that Dave feels sexual attraction for anything that moves besides these two hotties. While that joke gets old, Dave—who serves as a buffer between Anna and Ben as well as a drummer—turns out to be very wise and pushes Anna and Ben to move past their anger. This leads to a new set of challenges as they transition to writing about love.

Lister-Jones does an excellent job hear of tapping into the problems millennials face. Married with a house, Anna finds herself in envy of both her friends with children, as well as those who are enjoying carefree sex with no attachments. She believes that getting that one big break or having a child will fix all her and Ben’s problems, but in the end, the couple learns that it’s getting to take more than a major life change to heal the deep wounds in their relationship. Helping Ben is his therapist mother (Susie Essman, who starts off as the typical nagging woman she usually plays, but goes on to display a softer side). Other celebrity cameos include Colin Hanks as Anna’s passenger “Uber Douche” and Brooklyn Decker as a friend of Anna’s who leads the kind of fantasy life most married women envision their single gal pals as having—one filled with orgasms, lattes, and pilates.

“Band Aid” opens June 2 in Los Angeles, New York and On Demand.