Kevin's Watch

Saw this little gem of a film over the weekend and loved it. The film pulled of the trick of starting about as dark as can be [mental illness and destroyed lives] and gradually pulled itself around [drawing you in in the process] into a blossoming love story that was never schmaltzy or contrived. The film didn't tick any of the usual love-story boxes - but pulled it off anyway. Jennifer Lawrence was great [how good is she turning out to be] and the male lead [whose shamefully name I forget] made the whole film hang together with his presentation of a man whose life is in free-fall, but refuses to acknowledge it, prefering the solace of absolute denial. DeNiro as supporting actor gives a great performance as the betting/football obsessed father who places demands on his son that he is unable to meet. All in all a great couple of hours that leaves you feeling very happy.

I really enjoyed this movie too. I especially enjoyed DeNiro coming out of character typecast. It showed a good range for him.

I really tied in to the idea of two very wounded people finding each other. It's popular to bash this movie, but I really enjoyed it.

Hi Lorin . Hadn't realised bashing the film was a popular sport - but it doesn't suprise [or bother] me. My gain, the bashers loss .

[By the way - that is a very comfortable looking pair of [pair of] feet in your pic. May I ask who they belong to?]

peter wrote:Hi Lorin . Hadn't realised bashing the film was a popular sport - but it doesn't suprise [or bother] me. My gain, the bashers loss .

[By the way - that is a very comfortable looking pair of [pair of] feet in your pic. May I ask who they belong to?]

That is me on the left and ussuslmiel on the right. We were on our road trip and were on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. There is a storm out on the horizon so I was a little freaked out (nothing new) about lightening. We were on the lodge balcony waiting for the storm to pass.

There are few movies I actively hate. This is one of them.

Nevermind the fact that it's a paint-by-numbers rom-com. Nevermind that it's the latest in a series of phoned-in performances from Robert Deniro. Nevermind that it's a simplistic and insulting protrayal of mental illness. Nevermind that it's another plot-by-committee film starring beautiful people made to seem "normal".

But the conceit of the story is that a chronic gambler bets on his mentally ill son's dance competition? Are you kidding me?

Look, this movie has the exact same plot as Revenge of the Nerds, except that it's not funny and there's no gratuitous nudity.

Cail wrote:There are few movies I actively hate. This is one of them.

Nevermind the fact that it's a paint-by-numbers rom-com. Nevermind that it's the latest in a series of phoned-in performances from Robert Deniro. Nevermind that it's a simplistic and insulting protrayal of mental illness. Nevermind that it's another plot-by-committee film starring beautiful people made to seem "normal".

But the conceit of the story is that a chronic gambler bets on his mentally ill son's dance competition? Are you kidding me?

Look, this movie has the exact same plot as Revenge of the Nerds, except that it's not funny and there's no gratuitous nudity.

Wow! I thought it was beautiful.

I usually agree completely with Cail's opinions/reviews of movies. Not here. I thought this was lovely in it's innocence. But many agree with Cail. I don't try to defend my taste in movies. It is what it is.

Meh, can't win 'em all.

Look, I can enjoy a decent RomCom (I freaking loved Music & Lyrics), but there was just nothing good about this. You can practically sit there with a generic RomCom checklist and tick off boxes as the film progresses.

- Two "damaged" beautiful people? Check.

- Don't like each other initially? Check.

- Find common ground and grow to love one another? Check.

- Family of one is evil/eccentric and drives a wedge between them? Check.

- Task to complete which will bring them back together and save the house/camp/school/bar/restaurant/family? Check.

This is literally the same plot as every movie from the 1980s.....From Revenge of the Nerds, to One Crazy Summer.

Cail wrote:Meh, can't win 'em all.

Look, I can enjoy a decent RomCom (I freaking loved Music & Lyrics), but there was just nothing good about this. You can practically sit there with a generic RomCom checklist and tick off boxes as the film progresses.

- Two "damaged" beautiful people? Check.

- Don't like each other initially? Check.

- Find common ground and grow to love one another? Check.

- Family of one is evil/eccentric and drives a wedge between them? Check.

- Task to complete which will bring them back together and save the house/camp/school/bar/restaurant/family? Check.

This is literally the same plot as every movie from the 1980s.....From Revenge of the Nerds, to One Crazy Summer.

I still appreciate your perspective on most movies, even this one.Your review of Roadhouse was spectacular.

Ok - point taken about the check-list, but just because a check-list can be ticked by a given film doesn't have to make it bad; in fact it could as well be argued that the check-list comprises of the very points that make a film good, and thats why story-writers re-use them. Surely it is the story that is framed around those plot points that matters; if we could never like a film just because it uses some of the tried and tested tricks, how many films in reality could we ever like. As humans we are 'wired' to respond to certain emotional triggers [if you like], and these surely are the ones that compromise the check-list; the trick is to make new and invigorating use of them.

On a different but related point, the various reactions we have to this film serve to illustrate how much the perceptions of any given film can be divergent, even upon viewing the same matereal. [Yes this goes against the 'triggers' thing above but I don't begin to claim we're all wired the same] A case in point for me is the film The Pursiut of Happyness. Most see it as an uplifting story of a mans triumphing over adversity by refusal to give up the fight. For me it was a depressing portrayal of how life can, upon the whim of fate, crush you down to a point where nothing short of a miracle will restore you to grace.

I finally saw this over the weekend, and I really enjoyed it as well. I saw a few of the trappings at the end, such as having to chase after the girl after a misunderstanding to win her heart, but I liked it all the same. As they said in the movie, don't things suck enough in real life to not have a happy ending? And maybe it was by the numbers at that point, but I didn't see a by-the-numbers most of the way through. Then again, I can be dense sometimes.
And my wife wasn't so excited by it.

I love this damn movie so much. I think the acting and characters are sublimely realized and carry the plot, which is somewhat weaker. I guess that is about as close as i can come to agreeing with Cail on this one.

I love this damn movie so much.

It's been a few years, but I remember liking it quite a bit.