C.O.G. (2013, Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario, Dale Dickey) – Classic Movie Review 13,946

Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s 2013 American comedy drama film C.O.G. stars Jonathan Groff, along with Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Casey Wilson, Dean Stockwell, Troian Bellisario, and Dale Dickey.

Writer/ director Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s 2013 American comedy drama film C.O.G. stars Jonathan Groff, along with Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Casey Wilson, Dean Stockwell, Troian Bellisario, and Dale Dickey. C.O.G., aka Child of God, is based on a short story by David Sedaris from his 1997 New York Times Bestsellers book Naked, his first story filmed.

Jonathan Groff is very appealing as a confident, super-bright, witty young man, a recent Yale graduate who decides to go off the grid to work in Oregon on an apple farm, where he finds his lifestyle and ideas under scrutiny and even attack from the town’s migrant workers and deeply religious locals. His name is David but he tells people his name is Samuel.

C.O.G. is a quirky, consistently amusing, sometimes funny, sometimes challenging, then strongly finished comedy drama, with a real good cast to punch it over. Like the hero, it has got a lot of awkward ideas in its head, pleasingly expressed, that is with a smile but a heavy heart. There’s quite a bit of very strong, colourful language, right from the start.

Dean Stockwell is also quirkily amusing as the old farm owner Hobbs, who hires the hero and gets him a job in the apple factory. Plus there are three other essential performances from notable character actors: Corey Stoll as Curly, the friendly forklift operator at the apple factory, Denis O’Hare as Jon, the deeply religious, recovering alcoholic, and Dale Dickey as Debbie, the foul-mouthed assembly line co-worker.

C.O.G. was filmed on location in Forest Grove, Oregon, in October 2012.

It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2013, and was released in the US on September 20, 2013.

Jonathan Groff’s character is loosely based on the author David Sedaris (born December 26, 1956) and his experiences as a young man when he travelled to Oregon and to work as an apple picker.

Jonathan Groff publicly came out as gay to a reporter during the National Equality March in October 2009.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,946

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