2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hysterical Comedy!, July 10, 2009
This review is from: The Graduates (Amazon Instant Video)
The Graduates is a great, hysterical comedy about four guys who head to Ocean City for Senior Week. The movie is smart, funny, and charming. The Graduates is timeless and a movie everyone can relate to. The characters and the movie have depth and are likeable. My friends and I love this movie!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, smart... a total surprise, July 10, 2009
This review is from: The Graduates (Amazon Instant Video)
Really funny movie, especially surprising because of the small budget. All the actors were strong, just a total surprise how much I liked the movie.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Review by Alec Kerr, North Conway Daily, August 18, 2009
The film is a teen comedy that follows the formula of so many others before it: a group of friends head down to the beach for one last week of fun before going to college. There's the typical desperate pursuit to lose virginity.
Ben (Rob Bradford), the lead character, is futilely chasing after the hot girl (Stephanie Lynn) when the best friend (Laurel Reese) is the obvious right choice that he continually turns a blind eye to.
Too often teen movies, especially ones centered on the pursuit of sex, have a glib, smarmy feel and a fixation on gross-out humor. "The Graduates" has a couple low-brow gags, but for the most part it is trying to achieve something more sincere than the average multiplex teen movie.
Gielen is aware of the formulas he is using, but merely uses them as a template in which to slide in some moments of insight. Despite it's similarity in plot to "American Pie" or "Superbad" the film is closer in spirit to "American Graffiti" or "Dazed and Confused."
On a story level things are fairly predictable, but there are several moments and lines of dialogue that float up from the party clichés and take you off guard. A scene in which the subject matter of divorce comes up is nicely handled. The scene starts out comedic, but smoothly shifts in tone and nicely balances that line between comedy and drama.
Wright-Mead, who is meeting with HBO for workshopping a play and is producing an industry showcase for actors, has only one scene in "The Graduates," but it is memorable one and one that shouldn't be given away. She definitely leaves an impression in her few minutes of screen time.
Like Wright-Mead, this was the first feature for much of cast. The film is populated with solid performances throughout from the small roles, like Wright-Mead's, to the leads. There's a realistic chemistry between the five main characters and an unforced quality to the performances.
Watching a film like "The Graduates" reminds you of how much great "undiscovered" talent is truly out there. Unfortunately, sometimes the actors that make it the furthest are the one's least deserving. On the plus side, "The Graduates" is an excellent calling card for everyone involved.
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