"C.O.G."

U.S. Dramatic

**1/2 (two-and-a-half stars)

The first movie adaptation of a David Sedaris essay goes a long way to explain why nobody has tried adapting the author's work before. It tells of a smug Yale grad student, David (Jonathan Groff), who decides to experience the real world by taking a job alongside migrant laborers on an Oregon apple orchard. David's encounters with a rough forklift operator (Corey Stoll) and a forceful Christian artist (Denis O'Hare) delve into themes of religion and sexuality, which writer-director Kyle Patrick Alvarez is game to tackle. But Alvarez' script has little of Sedaris' deadpan humor and none of his self-deprecating wit.

- Sean P. Means

"C.O.G." screens again: Tuesday, 11:30 a.m., Library Center Theatre, Park City; Wednesday, 9 p.m., Salt Lake City Library; Friday, noon, Eccles Theatre, Park City; Saturday, 9 a.m, Temple Theatre, Park City.