The Story of Listen Up Philip
Listen Up Philip follows Philip Lewis Friedman, a self-obsessed novelist played with surgical precision by Jason Schwartzman, as he navigates a professional and personal crisis that's entirely of his own making. His relationship with his girlfriend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss) is deteriorating, his novel isn't coming together the way he'd hoped, and his publisher is losing patience. Rather than confront any of these problems directly, Philip does what any truly narcissistic artist would do: he flees. He accepts an invitation to stay at the countryside cottage of his literary idol, the aging novelist Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce), who lives in upstate New York and promises Philip the peace and quiet he needs to focus on what he does best—thinking about himself. What unfolds is a carefully observed comedy about how isolation, admiration, and wounded pride can calcify a person's worst traits into something almost heroic in their own mind.
The film's genius lies in its refusal to let Philip off the hook. Director Alex Ross Perry doesn't ask us to sympathize with his protagonist's self-absorption; instead, he invites us to watch it metastasize. Philip isn't trying to change. He's trying to be right.
Behind the Making of Listen Up Philip
Alex Ross Perry wrote and directed Listen Up Philip as a sharp, uncompromising indie comedy that premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014, and went on to win the Special Jury Prize at the 2014 Locarno International Film Festival—a significant vote of confidence from the international film community. The film's 109-minute runtime allows Perry to build his portrait of creative ego with patience and precision, never rushing the small humiliations and self-deceptions that accumulate around Philip's character.
The cast is exceptionally well-assembled. Schwartzman, known for his indie-film sensibility and ability to play entitled characters with surprising depth, anchors the film with a performance that's both comedically timed and genuinely unsettling. Elisabeth Moss, working in the mid-2010s before her career-defining turn in The Handmaid's Tale, brings a quiet, wounded intelligence to Ashley, making her quiet exit from Philip's life feel like a small tragedy he'll never fully understand. Jonathan Pryce, as the mentor figure Ike, delivers a masterclass in playing a man who's made peace with his own mediocrity—or has he? The supporting cast includes Krysten Ritter, Jess Weixler, Kate Lyn Sheil, and others who fill out the Brooklyn and New York City literary world with lived-in authenticity.
The film was shot across New York City and Greece, lending it a cosmopolitan texture that contrasts sharply with Philip's provincial self-regard. While Listen Up Philip didn't achieve major box-office success—indie comedies rarely do—it found its audience among critics and festival circuits, establishing Perry as a filmmaker unafraid to spend 109 minutes with an unlikeable protagonist and trust that the audience will stick around.
What Makes Listen Up Philip Stand Out
Here's the thing about Listen Up Philip: it's genuinely funny, but not in a way that lets you relax. Perry's screenplay cuts with the precision of a surgeon, and what's striking is how he never explains away Philip's behavior or asks us to understand it as a symptom of something deeper. Philip is just selfish. He's selfish in his relationships, selfish in his creative ambitions, selfish in the way he absorbs his mentor's wisdom without ever truly listening, and selfish in his conviction that everyone around him exists to facilitate his artistic vision.
What makes the film work—what keeps it from becoming a one-note character assassination—is the specificity of the writing and the performances. When Philip sits in Ike's cottage, supposedly working on his novel but mostly brooding about his wounded ego, we're watching a man who genuinely believes he's the hero of his own story. The film's narration, which drifts in and out, often contradicting what we're seeing on screen, adds another layer of unreliability. We can't trust Philip's version of events because Philip can't trust his own version of events.
Schwartzman's performance is the linchpin here. He plays Philip with a kind of desperate charm—the character isn't a cartoon villain, he's a person whose self-regard has become a prison he doesn't recognize as such. The scenes between Philip and Ashley before he leaves for the cottage are particularly cutting; Moss's quiet exasperation as she watches him spiral into self-pity is a masterpiece of restraint. And Pryce, as the older writer who's seen it all before, brings a weary knowingness to his scenes with Philip. He's not a sage dispensing wisdom; he's a man who's learned to survive by accepting his own irrelevance. The film doesn't ask you to like these people. It asks you to look at them, really look, and recognize something uncomfortable in their choices.
Where to Stream Listen Up Philip Online
Listen Up Philip is available across a wide range of streaming platforms, making it easier than ever to catch up with Perry's sharp indie comedy. You can find it on MUBI and the MUBI Amazon Channel if you're a subscriber to those services, or stream it on more accessible platforms like Plex, Pluto TV, The CW, and The Roku Channel. For those who prefer to rent or purchase, the film is available on Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, Prime Video, and YouTube. If you've got access to Tubi TV, Fawesome, Hoopla, or Kanopy—particularly if you're a library cardholder—those are solid options too. Movie OTT tracks all current streaming availability in real time, so you can check the Where-to-Watch widget above to see which platform works best for you right now. Availability shifts frequently, so it's worth confirming before you settle in.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Who directed Listen Up Philip?
Alex Ross Perry wrote and directed the film. It premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno, establishing Perry as a distinctive voice in indie cinema.
Q: Is Listen Up Philip based on a true story?
No, it's an original screenplay by Alex Ross Perry. However, the film draws on recognizable archetypes from the literary world—the struggling novelist, the aging mentor, the patient girlfriend—and explores them with dark comedy and psychological insight.
Q: What's the runtime of Listen Up Philip?
The film runs 109 minutes, which gives Perry plenty of time to develop his portrait of creative narcissism without rushing the character work.
Q: Where can I watch Listen Up Philip?
Listen Up Philip is available on multiple platforms including MUBI, Plex, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and several others. Movie OTT's streaming widget will show you exactly where it's available in your region right now.
Q: What's the IMDb rating for Listen Up Philip?
The film has a 6.1/10 rating on IMDb, reflecting its divisive nature—some viewers find it brilliant and darkly comic, while others find Philip too insufferable to spend two hours with, which is kind of the point.
Final Thoughts on Listen Up Philip
Listen Up Philip isn't a film for everyone. If you need your protagonists to be likeable or your comedies to be warm, you'll probably bounce off it. But if you're interested in character studies that don't flinch, in performances that capture the specific texture of creative self-delusion, and in filmmaking that trusts its audience to sit with discomfort—this is essential viewing. Perry's film is a reminder that some of the best indie cinema comes not from trying to be liked, but from being unflinchingly honest about how people actually behave when they think nobody's watching. It's sharp, it's funny, and it's deeply uncomfortable in exactly the way great comedy should be.
