From Omeleto.
A woman meets her dream man.
JOE is used with permission from Shara Ashley Zeiger. Learn more at https://theplatformgroup.org/joe.
Jillian lives in Brooklyn in a rundown apartment with a weird roommate. She works as a barista in a neighborhood coffee bar, but it’s not quite the career she imagines for herself.
But then she meets Joe, and their potential romance becomes a bright spot in her life. Her only problem? She lied to Joe about her job at the coffee shop when they met. But when that coffee shop is Joe’s favorite place in the neighborhood, she must work even harder to keep up the illusion.
Directed by Kaye Tuckerman and written by Shara Ashley Zeiger, this short romantic comedy is about the impulse to present only the best version of ourselves in the early, flush stages of infatuation. Whether it’s an inch or two on a dating profile or the exact details of a living situation, many people smooth over insecurities with a little white lie. But that urge takes on a life of its own in this charming, brisk narrative, as Jillian tries to make her best impression on a customer of the coffee shop where she works — all while pretending she doesn’t work there.
Those exertions to control perception make for the comedic thrust of the story, though it takes time to set up Jillian as a woman who isn’t quite where she wants to be in life. But her "meet cute" injects a spark into both the film and Jillian’s life. Their initial run-in is simple but genuine, until Jillian, in a flash of insecurity, fibs about what she does for a living. The lie is small, but it spirals when Joe reveals that the cafe where Jillian works is his favorite hangout.
The storytelling keeps the tone buoyant, while the handheld camerawork has a lively immediacy. The humor comes not from broad gags but from the awkwardness of social dynamics and interaction, as Jillian goes to increasing lengths to keep up the illusion that she’s more successful and together than she feels. It feels almost farcical at points, but as the stakes get higher for Jillian and her chemistry with Joe develops into a genuine connection, it stays emotionally grounded in Jillian’s growing worry about being unmasked.
As Jillian, actor Bethany Nicole Taylor is chatty, funny, awkward, and relatable. She doesn’t lie because of deceit or trickery, but out of fear of not measuring up to a man she perceives as above her station. Opposite her, actor Sean MacLaughlin as Joe has an easy likability and innate decency. And when Jillian’s ruse is up, he has a kindness and compassion that makes the romance easy to root for.
Entertaining and warmhearted, JOE is a portrait of modern romance that balances laughs with sweetness, where the grand romantic gesture is not a last-minute run to the airport or a big bouquet, but a vulnerable confession and an understanding response. It finds humor in the realness of embarrassment — and reminds us that our most human connections are built not on polish, but on the shaky, hopeful act of being known.
