Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:01 pm
Kevin Smith produced this film that was written and directed by Jeff Anderson (Dante in Clerks).
The story follows a man and woman on their way home for their wedding, only she has called it off and he doesn't really know why.
This is an interesting flick in terms of tone. You can tell that Jeff really tried to make some "zany" characters like you might find in Kevin's films, but they aren't as successful. Everything has a much more serious vibe than a Smith film. In fact, I felt like I was watching a Lifetime movie instead of a regular movie. The look and feel just screams "made for TV" to me. Helping the Lifetime feel is a plot that I'm sure some will argue had to have been at least co-written by a woman and a male lead character that's more feminine than the actresses.
I'm not saying the film sucks, I just found the whole tone and feel of the film to be odd, and maybe a bit inconsistent. For example, the whole opening bachelor party scene came off as phony as hell, yet a later scene with guys getting drunk then mowing lawns seemed real.
This was Jeff's first effort, so I'll cut him slack, but I'm still going to point these things out.
The story itself was decent, and must have hit home with Jeff because there's no way a straight man writes this film without experiencing it.
The actors are all good, although everyone is bad in certain scenes (for example: everyone looked bad in the bachelor party scene).
There's some good comedy here too, but not even half a movie's worth. Some is "forced zany", while the truly funny stuff are the things you can tell he had in his own head and wasn't trying to recreate a Smith film. For example, there's a thing two Jersey guys do that is hilarious and despite the dangers, would be funny as hell to do to someone in real life.
I can't recommend this to just anyone. I think you'd have to be a Smith fan, a fan of indies, or a really die hard romantic comedy fan to get some entertainment out of this film. I also wouldn't recommend it for dates. This is one of those films that'll get you into a long discussion instead of into bed.
5 out of 10.
The story follows a man and woman on their way home for their wedding, only she has called it off and he doesn't really know why.
This is an interesting flick in terms of tone. You can tell that Jeff really tried to make some "zany" characters like you might find in Kevin's films, but they aren't as successful. Everything has a much more serious vibe than a Smith film. In fact, I felt like I was watching a Lifetime movie instead of a regular movie. The look and feel just screams "made for TV" to me. Helping the Lifetime feel is a plot that I'm sure some will argue had to have been at least co-written by a woman and a male lead character that's more feminine than the actresses.
I'm not saying the film sucks, I just found the whole tone and feel of the film to be odd, and maybe a bit inconsistent. For example, the whole opening bachelor party scene came off as phony as hell, yet a later scene with guys getting drunk then mowing lawns seemed real.
This was Jeff's first effort, so I'll cut him slack, but I'm still going to point these things out.
The story itself was decent, and must have hit home with Jeff because there's no way a straight man writes this film without experiencing it.
The actors are all good, although everyone is bad in certain scenes (for example: everyone looked bad in the bachelor party scene).
There's some good comedy here too, but not even half a movie's worth. Some is "forced zany", while the truly funny stuff are the things you can tell he had in his own head and wasn't trying to recreate a Smith film. For example, there's a thing two Jersey guys do that is hilarious and despite the dangers, would be funny as hell to do to someone in real life.
I can't recommend this to just anyone. I think you'd have to be a Smith fan, a fan of indies, or a really die hard romantic comedy fan to get some entertainment out of this film. I also wouldn't recommend it for dates. This is one of those films that'll get you into a long discussion instead of into bed.
5 out of 10.