Khilnani: “When I think of body lotion and soft luscious skin, I think of Emily Ratajkowski and her amazing tushy, not that pasty white virgin from Superbad. But on a more serious note, self-deprecating humor is always a win. It’s going to make people walk into stores and see the CeraVe, and be like, oh yeah, Michael Cera. I should try this. Plus now my Indian grandmother can finally pronounce it correctly.”
Buechele: “The quicker, funnier version would be to have Michael Cera just matter of factly state that ‘the only reason I’m getting paid to do this is because you can make a pun out of my last name. That’s it. Michael CeraVe. I don’t hate it though, the check clears.’ No need to get into what the product actually does or him pitching the ad to a room—it’s lotion, we get it.”
Dubé: “I remember hearing about the CeraVe spot through a couple of male friends who do not give one shit about lotion or any other beauty/self care products. This is a clever way to reach people who normally wouldn’t pay any attention to this type of ad.”
Barkley: “There are two things I love about this ad: the effortless commitment from Michael Cera and the distraught conference table of CeraVe employees as the button. It’s a clever way to let the audience know ‘this is a joke’ but also maybe, it wasn’t a joke to Michael Cera. It’s aware of itself but not in a meta way, more in a sweet, innocent way, exposing our hero.”
Uber Eats “Best Friends” by Mother London
Dubé: “Silly is great, but awkward is even better. There is something about people making complete fools of themselves that make us giggle and cringe and stayed glued til the end. Maybe it’s because we can all relate to being that awkward idiot who can’t seem to get it right. Taking yourself too seriously can sometimes come off as phony and self-important. When you maximize the stupidity, you suddenly become relatable or maybe get some new attention.”
Buechele: “I’d cut everything after 1:15 and go right to the title card. It’s funnier that way—we don’t need to see De Niro pretend to enjoy playing ping pong. Food delivery services have a good comedic connection with people not wanting to interact with other humans, so we could even see a line to end the ‘on set’ scene of him explicitly saying, ‘You know? I actually order Uber Eats because I don’t like having to talk to strangers.’”
Barkley: “I watched this entire short film—why? Because Asa Butterfield’s ability to do subtle and seeing Robert De Niro play happy. The underlying messaging of ‘we like what we like’ but also getting the brand’s messaging out there too, ‘we like to go places and we like to eat food,’ loved it.”
