Customer Reviews

The Romantics

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I thought what a great cast, I convinced my husband to spend our kid free night by downloading this new video on demand for $3.99, I am very thankful I didn't choose the $1 upgrade for the high definition, as this movie had absolutley no definition. Not only was it a waste of time but a waste of money. Boring, Boring, BORING!!! I was thinking based on the description something like "The Big Chill", I loved a lot of the cast and thought how could you go wrong? Well wrong, wrong, wrong they went! No story line, not sure if the acting was bad or not, this movie was just bad! I hate to write a bad review, but I felt all should be warned! Pick a different flick!

I found there to be a lot to like in "The Romantics." First, I really loved the ensemble cast. The film stars Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Adam Brody, Malin Akerman, Jeremy Strong, Rebecca Lawernce, Diana Agron and Candice Bergen The actors were all working in top form, exploring their generally unlikable characters to the fullest. The writing is tart and incisive which gives the actors plenty to work with. It's interesting to observe these people who have such history between them for one night of their lives. Because of this storytelling device the narrative may seen rushed or incomplete, but those are things I loved about it. I enjoy stream of conscious storytelling and "The Romantics" is very much that type of film. The cinematography adds to the story by being almost dreamlike in style. Not only are the characters intoxicated for a portion of the film, for Laura (Holmes), this night is almost like a dream- but in the worst sense. Her drama with Tom (Duhamel) is emotional and well wrought. I believed these characters' past and it's easy to understand their flaws and longings. I really did think that "The Romantics" is a neat little gem. In fact, I enjoyed the book as well, but in all actuality this story works better as a film. There is more of a punch to see the characters working things out visually rather than in your mind. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys movies that take place in one day, movies that have unlikable but complex characters that you get to figure out, and to anyone who understands how messy life and love can be, and in the end, those two things are never, ever, what you expect them to be.

The best part of this movie is the soundtrack. Anna Paquin still stole every scene she played, even though her character was so one-dimensional. Katie Holmes was somewhat wooden and maybe the worst bit of casting was the male lead. This is not the Big Chill for Gen Y.

A group of old college friends reunite for a wedding. The maid of honor (Holmes) and the groom Tom (Duhamel) are still not sure that thier relationship is over. After the worst sequence of wedding toasts ever during the rehearsal dinner Tom disappears and Laura finds him and the begin to talk about thier feelings. The other members of the wedding party are all looking for Tom and trying to keep the bride (Anna Paquin) from discovering what is going on. This is another plot that has been done to death. The cast and acting are enough to keep you watching and entertained but the writing really hurt this one. I can't go farther without giving the movie away, but watch it and you will see what I mean. I give it a C+.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I would

This movie isn't so bad as some are making it out to be. It was adapted from a novel and is about a group of college buddies who gather together when two are about to get married. Ah, but the bride's best friend is still in love with the groom, and he may have some feelings that linger for her as well. Therein lies the big conflict.

The others spend most of the night before the wedding getting drunk, reminiscing, arguing, etc. Most of the arguing takes place between the aforementioned former lovers, of course.

So....do things get resolved and does the wedding take place? It is hard to say, given the ambiguous ending.

I picked this movie as a rental because of Anna Paquin (I'm a fan of her performance in True Blood, the HBO series). My husband and settled down to watch this last night and were very disappointed. The entire movie lacks credibility, the writing is awful and derivative, and cliches abound throughout. Even the so-called big names in the cast - Anna Paquin, Katie Holmes, and Josh Duhamel could not save this mess of a movie.

The premise is nothing original - a group of college friends come together to attend the wedding of friends Lila (Paquin) and Tom (Duhamel). Trouble is the maid of honor, Laura (Holmes) used to date Tom back in college and still appears to have strong feelings for him. Predictably, trouble arises, and the movie plods along to its expected conclusion.

The flaws in this movie are many so I'll just focus on some glaring aspects - there is no credibility in the supposedly close bonds between these 'friends'. From the beginning, viewers do not get a sense of the camaraderie between close pals who've spent their college years together. The interactions appear fake and stilted and very unnatural. There is no emotional connection between the characters whatsoever. Tom and Lila are supposed to be deeply in love, but there is a palpable lack of chemistry between these two. This may have been deliberate to show the underlying trouble in the relationship but it makes the whole idea of the wedding farcical.

Then there's the performance of the three leads - Duhamel is ineffectual in his role as the conflicted Tom who can't seem to decide what or who he wants in his life and the quotes he spews from classic English poetry is so wooden it made me want to gag; Paquin is equally bad in her performance as the lovelorn Lila who seems oblivious to what is going on, she is so bent on marrying Tom that she appears to tolerate any transgressions which just does not make sense, her acting appears fake and lacks emotion; finally, Holmes as the tormented maid-of-honor Laura is perhaps the best of all three in terms of her performance, there are some good emotional scenes, but ultimately, the poor writing lets her down too. Oh, and Candice Bergen is totally wasted in the role of the bride's mom! She is given these awful cliched lines and is supposed to be the feared matriarch but her role too is forgettable.

This was an utter waste of time - instead I would recommend watching The Big Chill (15th Anniversary Collector's Edition), or even The Great Gatsby!

This movie was kind of lame. It was awkward half the time and the ending was anticlimactic. The characters seemed half thought out, as well as the plot.

I have never been one to be really picky over a movie because I think each movie has it's own art to it, but I honestly can say this is the worst movie I have ever seen. I like Josh Duhamel and Anna Paquin not a big fan of of Katie Holmes but she's OK.

I didn't like this movie because it seemed like it went by really fast and didn't really explain anything at all.

The story is Anna and Josh's characters are engaged to be married and Katie's character is the maid of honor. Well you learn that Katie actually had a really long relationship with Josh's. You know one of those stories.

I thought well it's not really original, but I'll still give it a try. If your in the mood for a terrible movie that at the end leaves you confused and with this empty feeling that you didn't have before then yes this is in fact the movie for you, but if your thinking oh this isn't that bad of a cast and it's an interesting plot line I might suggest rethinking it. The only thing interesting about this movie was the cover of the DVD/Blu Ray case that's it.The Romantics

Redbox & Rotten Tomatoes gave The Romantics horrible reviews but I wanted to give it a try because I love stories about unrequited love. I think the problem is that there isn't much of a plot other than a group of friends getting together the night before for a friend's wedding( they never leave the property for the entire movie). There is a lot of talking. I didn't mind this. I actually loved the scenes between Katie Holmes & Josh Duhamel. I thought Katie Holmes did a good job and I was paying particular attention since the reviews bashed her acting skills. Honestly, I think the reviewers were being way too harsh. I felt her heartache. Anyway, it really depends on what type of movie you're attracted to. You're either going to like it or not. I liked it.
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I was very anxious to see this movie, until I read several reviews, and then I decided I'd just watch it anyway to see if it really was as horrible as everyone said it was. Well, for starters, none of the characters (except Katie Holmes' character Laura, surprisingly enough) are likeable. There was absolutely no chemistry between the actors and it was all very awkward and uncomfortable to watch. It is very difficult to believe that these people are all actually friends. I couldn't decide if the viewer is supposed to like Anna Paquin's character Lila, but I certainly didn't. She is very one-dimensional and kind of a selfish b****. And because of that, there was no real conflict; the viewer doesn't feel torn by the Laura-Tom-Lila triangle, you don't sympathize at all with Lila(Paquin), and you just end up rooting for Laura(Holmes) the entire time. I did however like the ending, mostly because it wasn't typical. A lot of the time, movies beat you to death with the point just to make sure you got it ("Incase you didn't realize it already from the last scene, THIS is what the final result is"). I don't want to give it away, but I will just say that there is one last line that's uttered that subtly fills you in on what the outcome of the main characters is. No, you don't get to see everything that happens; there's no jump-ahead-5-years kind of scene where you get to see where everyone ends up, but that's not really necessary. And as for the rest of the characters, their futures are insignificant anyway. Bottom line is, I appreciated the uniqueness of the film's conclusion, and Katie Holmes isn't half bad in indie films, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one.