2.0 out of 5 stars
Put this movie to a good use, January 9, 2012
My overall impression of this movie was very uneven. Some of the actings and dialogues were great and poignant, others were flat and unconvincing. I could think of one way of putting this movie to good use, i.e. show the last scene to the evangelists and those who believe that sex between the same sex (homosexuality) is a choice. After they see it, they will think differently.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Slow But Good Movie - Surprisingly Good, January 24, 2011
It's all about expectations, and I had a very different set of expectations going into this film that were turned upside down and made the film a bit better than the film I was expecting.
From the trailer and description, I thought this was going to be a movie about two guys trying to make a pornographic film. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this was wrong, in fact there isn't any nudity, and the film is not at all about pornography.
Ben is a seemingly normal nice guy newly married to the lovely Anna. One normal middle class night, they are awoken by Ben's college friend, the Bohemian Andrew. Andrew represents the life that Ben secretly still wants no responsibilities; do whatever he wants with whoever he wants whenever he wants. The first half of the film was all about tempting Ben away from a normal middle class married life.
This film is full of surprises and discovery. The first half was nicely paced and I could see the conflict Ben was feeling. Andrew was light and breezy; he was a crazy fun mad man from college. As the second act played out, Ben became annoying, overanalyzing everything; and Andrew slipped into a more normal melodramatic character. Anna rose up as a very strong wonderful character, who changed as a result of the dramatic conflict she felt as she uncovered Ben's lies.
The part that I find amazing about this film is that there was virtually no script. According to the making of featurette, the actors improvised the entire film. The fact that the film was coherent and played so well dramatically is a big credit to the director and actors. The annoying part of the film was the whole question of will they or won't they? In the very last act, that question was asked way too many times.
This is an extremely low budget film. It appears to be a labor of love for the director Lynn Shelton. From my perspective, I think this film was less about relationships with the same gender, but more about being honest and envying what others have.
After watching the making of featurettte, it is amazing that this film holds together as well as it does. The production qualities are pretty good.
The film is rated R due to the subject matter and strong language. I don't recall any nudity in the film. And there certainly is no violence. For a parent that knows their child well, this film could be viewed by slightly younger viewers than the R rating says.
The DVD is full of some excellent special features. I very rarely think that the deleted scenes should be included in the film. However, I think each of those scenes were better than what ended up in the film. The making of featurette is a must watch film. The context of how and why this film was made is excellent.
This is not a film for everyone. I enjoyed it very much. If Lynn Shelton had cut out a few of the "should we" or "shouldn't we" moments and added the deleted scenes, I would have enjoyed the film more. For me, this was a thought provoking film.
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