Big Girl on Campus: "I Used to Go Here" slight, familiar but honest and likable indie

I Used to Go Here (2020)

80 min.

Release Date: August 7, 2020 (On Demand)

They say you can never go home again, but can you go to college again? “I Used to Go Here” doesn’t have all of the answers, but it has a charmingly wise head on its shoulders. Formerly Mrs. Joe Swanberg, writer-director Kris Rey (2015’s “Unexpected”) fashions a slim and awfully familiar soul-searching indie dramedy that rests on the appealing presence of Gillian Jacobs (2018’s “Life of the Party”). As slight as it might be—how’s 80 minutes for brevity?—this is an engaging slice of adulting and tapping back into the past that hits enough truthful, wistful notes about the power of nostalgia. 

35-year-old writer Kate Conklin (Gillian Jacobs) may have just ended a relationship with her ex-ex-fiancé—and she might be the only one in her circle of friends who isn’t having children already—but she has just published her first novel, albeit with a cover she hates. Following low book sales, her book tour is canceled. Not long after that disappointing news, Kate is invited last-minute by her former creative writing professor, David (Jemaine Clement), to read at her alma mater in Carbondale, Illinois. Her accommodations are at a bed and breakfast directly across from her old off-campus house fifteen years ago, and feelings of nostalgia begin taking her back. Kate begins mingling with a group of aspiring writers from her old house, including Hugo (Josh Wiggins), Tall Brandon (Brandon Daley), Animal (Forrest Goodluck) and Animal’s girlfriend Emma (Khloe Janel), and reliving the college experience. 

Light-hearted yet honest, “I Used to Go Here” has a way of allowing its protagonist to regress and go against her better judgment with decisions that could be seen as hypocritical, and yet it is hard not to remain on Kate’s side. Gillian Jacobs is wonderful as Kate, identifiable and capable of making her arc (and final line) feel poignant and true. Deep down, Kate knows her first book—and her career, her life, her relationships—could be better, and while her failures might slow her down, she’s doing the best she can. The always-amusing Jemaine Clement plays David as a slightly less pompous version of the characters he usually plays, although he starts as more of a formative figure for Kate before his true colors reveal themselves. The ubiquitous Zoë Chao (2020’s “Almost Love”) has some funny scenes with Jacobs in person and on the phone as Kate’s pregnant college friend Laura. Jorma Taccone and Kate Micucci have small roles, respectively, as Bradley Cooper, a guy she used to date who now just goes by “Brad” for obvious reasons, and Brad’s makeout-ready friend Rachel.

In the middle of the film, writer-director Kris Rey takes Kate into a few directions that are momentarily amusing but meander from the focal point. On a late-night escapade, Kate and the college kids venture out to find out if Hugo’s girlfriend April (Hannah Marks), another promising writer in David’s eye, is cheating on him. Along the way, they jump a fence and lose Tall Brandon, who ends up having a good night with Hugo’s mother (Jennifer Joan Taylor) in a sweet, much-more-innocuous riff on Stifler’s mom from the “American Pie” films. There’s also a running thread involving Kate and her no-bull B&B host (Cindy Gold), who’s strict about Kate keeping track of her key; it's more tonally in sync with the rest of the film and pays off with grace. 

Like how Kate describes her book and how life actually seems to her, “I Used to Go Here” is pretty restrained, and refreshingly so when compared to most college-set comedies. The film isn’t likely to make a lasting impression as a minor permutation of a story we have seen time and time again, but it is likable, brightly performed, and made with sensitivity and introspection by writer-director Kris Rey. And, with Gillian Jacobs at the center of nearly every scene, it is difficult to pan.

Grade: B -