Summer Blockbuster Season’s Softcore Entry Is The Undisciplined Making The Rules!

The Good: Frances Conroy makes it through her lines without breaking to say, “This is the dumbest thing I’ve been in since Catwoman”?
The Bad: Terrible editing/pacing, Abysmal acting, Universally unlikable characters, Horrible dialogue, Predictable plot progression.
The Basics: My choice (so far) for the Golden Razzies, Making The Rules is an all-around terrible film with nothing to recommend it.


As Summer Blockbuster Season breaks in theaters, I find myself fascinated by the counterprogramming. While the major studio releases are carefully-timed, big-budget, special effects-driven films, smaller studios try to create sleeper hits that might get noticed or meet a different demographic. Competing with the early releases, like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is Making The Rules. Making The Rules is a Jaime Pressly and Robin Thicke vehicle. Pressly is a virtual unknown to me as she has played supporting characters in films I’ve seen, but not led a cast before and Robin Thicke is a musical artist who might be best known for pulling focus from Miley Cyrus during her award show performance in the “nude” two piece a few years back.

Making The Rules is not going to be the big cinematic break for either Thicke or Pressly. If this is not the cinematic work that buries the career of writer/director Jimbo Lee, it would be surprise. Making The Rules is plagued by sloppy editing (Lee apparently does not want to waste a moment of footage and, as such, in the first two minutes of the film there is an extended shot of a hospital that goes on for almost twenty seconds with nothing at all happening) and odd mistakes with continuity (if Frances Conroy is not playing Abby’s mother, whose mother is she supposed to be?! And if she is Abby’s mother in the film, how can Matt break the news of Abby’s injury to her after she picks Abby up from the hospital?!). Apparently Lee’s concept for competing with Hollywood’s most sought-after writers and big films filled with lots of movement is to create a painfully static film filled with predictable conceits, bland performances, dull characters, and script issues that might have easily been fixed by observing real life, as opposed to writing (apparently) based off soap opera dialogue.

One day at work, Abby is cutting something in the kitchen when she cuts her hand. The cut is severe enough to send her to the hospital, where her mother picks her up as opposed to her husband, who she does not want to bother. Abby struggles with figuring out how to do things around the house for a couple of days before her husband Matt returns from his own work to notice she is injured. While out to lunch with Matt, Abby and Matt have a little spat and while Matt is paying the bill, Abby draws the attention of Shaun. Shaun is an ex-boyfriend who has now opened a hair salon and suggests she come to visit. After a lunch out with her friend Becca, Abby considers changing her hair style and the possibility of having Shaun work on her hair. When she has to go to a laundromat, she runs into Shaun again and she visits his apartment to pick up some pictures she left there after their break-up.

When Matt goes away for two weeks of contracting work and after a lunch with her mother convinces her to change her life, Abby finds herself having an affair with Shaun again. Encouraged by her friend Becca to have a baby quickly, Abby frets because she is late and her pregnancy test confirms that she is pregnant. Abby begins to worry that the baby might be Shaun’s, but she continues to see Shaun. Over the course of the summer, Abby begins to look forward to life as a mother until Jimbo Lee takes a page from Nicholas Sparks’s playbook and goes toward tragedy, melodrama, and blah resolution as opposed to any sort of character growth and organic direction for Abby.

Amid static shots of a clothes dryer running, long shots of partially-busy streets, and Abby eating out at several Los Angeles restaurants after she is unemployed, Making The Rules feels much longer than the seventy-eight minute runtime. Making The Rules plays out like a porn film where all of the sex and nudity are cut out. Jimbo Lee’s camerawork is bored and boring, focusing far too long on the subjects on screen while nothing is actually happening and the writing is so stiff that I was shocked to discover Lee’s writing resume was not packed with jobs on porn or daytime soap operas. The relationship conversations almost all sound like they were written by soap opera writers who feel they have to explain everything that viewers are seeing on screen and the scenes themselves feel like lead-ins to every cheap porn – repairman visits the lonely housewife, wife sits around an ex-boyfriend’s house looking at pictures of the two of them together, restaurant affair, etc. Moments that might appear to be subtle – implying the initial affair by simply showing clothes spinning in a dryer unattended – are undone almost immediately by scenes that make the affair obvious and other scenes that are baffling (Abby has a lunch with her mother where her mother tries to convince her to make changes in her life after the affair is initiated). Lee appears not to understand that filming in high def also means that it’s painfully obvious when one tries to use water in the place of hot tea . . . and the list goes on.

The characters in Making The Rules are easily some of the stupidest to ever appear on screen, even if they are not supposed to be. When a woman claims that she would be “fucked” if her husband finds out about her affair, one has to wonder why she is kissing the guy she is having an affair with while eating at a local restaurant. For sure, Los Angeles/Silverlake are huge, but the odds of running into someone who will recognize you in your own neighborhood are dramatically higher than going somewhere entirely different or eating in. Given the sheer number of times Abby is seen eating or cooking, one has to consider that part of the point of Making The Rules is to attract the crowd that eagerly watches Kitchen Nightmares or celebrity chef programs. Either way, much of the film is spent with Abby sitting around complaining about her life, while eating, and whining about the affair she’s having while still putting herself squarely in the path of temptation.

Conceits like the husband who does not notice the haircut and the best friend who notices it instantly play out in Making The Rules poorly, exactly like the conceits they are as opposed to feeling like parts of an organic story.

Jaime Pressly plays Abby in a thoroughly unlikable way. When she is not stiff as Abby, Abby is being impatient, mean and/or boring. There is no sense that Abby actually appreciates the consequences of her affair until she gets pregnant and even after, she just seems vacuous and impulsive as opposed to conflicted or interesting. Pressly has no on-screen chemistry with Tygh Runyan (Matt) and her idea of sex appeal in scenes with Robin Thicke appears to be opening her wide eyes even wider. At a time when divorce is so easy to get, it is unforgivable having characters in a loveless marriage without a realistic sense of how the two characters ever came to be together . . . and what keeps them together. Abby and Matt have nothing binding them for most of the movie.

Making The Rules is like Tyler Perry’s Temptation (reviewed here!) without the moralizing or the secondary characters who have a life of their own . . . or, I suppose, a built-in audience that guarantees the film’s financial success. None of that is what major studios want going into a project and that might be why Making The Rules is unlikely to be a sleeper hit at all. The single point I’m giving the film is mostly due to Frances Conroy’s presence in the film and the way she gets through the philosophical technobabble without wincing. How such a wonderful actress gets sucked into so many terrible projects is about as big of a mystery as how Making The Rules ever got made.

For other works with Frances Conroy, please check out my reviews of:
Love Happens
The Wicker Man
Shopgirl
Six Feet Under
Catwoman

1/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Come Early Morning, I'll Still Be Sleeping

The Good: Acting, Moments of character
The Bad: Pacing is far too slow, Tone, Dull plot, Characters are hard to empathize with
The Basics: Sadly, this film's pace and lack of genuine plot so rob it of entertainment value that I fell asleep twice while watching this, despite the performances.


If you've never heard of Come Early Morning, join the team! This independent film, released in 2006, did not receive a lot of mainstream attention and after watching it, I think the reason it might have not received much critical attention either is that the audience may still be asleep. Released on DVD with no apparent extras (at least not on the Widescreen side of the disc), this indy film drew me in by the fact that it was written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams. Adams impressed me with her performance in Chasing Amy (reviewed here!) and I thought picking up this DVD would be a nice way to support her career.

Lucy Fowler is a self-loathing boozer who spends her Friday nights getting drunk, engaging in casual sex and trying to sneak out of whatever bed she ends up in the morning after. That's her choice, based on years and years of baggage and parental modeling. One day, following a bar fight where she erupts at a woman who slept with her father, Lucy meets Cal Percell, a pretty decent guy who wants to treat Lucy well and runs into her typical roadblocks. Encouraged by her friend Kim, Lucy returns to Cal after their first date to try to develop a relationship with him, though she finds the prospect frightening and weird.

I, sadly, found the film more boring than anything else. Paced so slowly that a snail moves faster, Come Early Morning is excruciating to watch less for the establishment and development of the characters and more for the utter lack of plot. This film, written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams has a similar "therapeutic musing" quality to it as Running With Scissors without the crazy characters. The result is that the film lacks a genuine sense of character development and catharsis and instead belabors the miserable life of the protagonist far beyond the viewer's ability to care and interest in her story.

Yes, in the end the big problem with Come Early Morning is that the viewer is unable to empathize with Lucy. She is caught in her own mental traps and inhibitions, broken by the example of her mother and father and surrounded by people who treat one another poorly. The tagline on the DVD said something about how "you can't love another until you learn to love yourself" and here the movie has some serious problems living up to the hype.

Lucy begins the movie fairly comfortable in her rut and it's unclear why she breaks out of it at all for Cal. Cal treats her the same way as the men we presume were jerks to her in her past; he gives her attention, takes her home at the end of the night and they have sex. Just because he wakes up in the morning as she's leaving and drives her home, she seems to turn her world around for him. It doesn't jive. But more than that, Come Early Morning never truly sells us on the idea that Lucy doesn't like herself at the beginning. In some of the earliest scenes in the movie, she is reaching out to her estranged father and visiting her mother in a nursing home.

But even taking this amount of time to analyze the film is a stretch for me; I didn't care. How do I know how little I cared about Lucy and her character journey? I fell asleep while watching Come Early Morning. Twice. In the day time. That's how boring the film was, how uninspired the character journey of Lucy Fowler was. And, remember, I was looking forward to this film.

What saves this from absolutely dismal territory is the acting. Ashley Judd gives a decent performance - certainly better than the last movie I saw her in, which was Twisted - that is depressing and always in character. Gone is her trademark smile and the enthusiastic light in her eyes. No, on this outing she is dead-eyed and dull, which is a stretch of her talents that she pulls off quite well.

The film is backed with equally good actors who are actually acting. Laura Prepon (known as the assertive Donna from That 70's Show) is mousy and shy, Stacy Keach is paternal and kind as Owen (a far cry from his loud, angry role on Titus). Jeffrey Donovan is adequate as the "aw, shucks," down-home good ole' boy Cal.

But none of them sell me on watching this film again and it's tiresome and dull to watch. I wish it were not, but outside one or two lines, the actors showing up and performing well within their roles is all that Come Early Morning truly has going for it.

For other works with Ashley Judd, be sure to check out my reviews of:
The Tooth Fairy
Twisted
Frida
Someone Like You . . .
“The Game” - Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Darmok” - Star Trek: The Next Generation

3/10

For other film reviews, check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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More Mallrats Means More Than Just More Money For View Askew

The Good: Funny, makes a lot more sense with new cut, good extras, preservation of original
The Bad: Still weak in some areas, Packaging; back tells nothing about movie! Simplified resolutions.
The Basics: Set in a mall and populated by weird, interesting, funny characters, Mallrats always gave the impression of being a "little movie that could," that simply didn't. Now it works!


Mallrats and the Malltrats Tenth Anniversary Edition are essentially two movies, so my review is actually two reviews for the price of one. Mallrats was the second film produced by View Askew productions that was directed by Kevin Smith and produced by Scott Mosier. Following on the success of Clerks, the pair took their production company to Universal for their first big studio production. The result was a color film with a higher standard of production and recognizable actors. At the same time, it's still a movie loaded with "dick and fart jokes," as Kevin Smith says frequently in the extras.

Mallrats - Take 1 (the theatrical cut, the review that properly belongs here) as it was released in the theaters and originally on DVD is a romp around a mall wherein two characters lament their day of being single. T.S. Quint is dumped by Brandi Svenning when Quint's callous pre-film comments lead to a fellow student's death. In another part of town, Brodie is being dumped by his girlfriend for being an insensitive, comic book-loving lout. To lament their singlehood, both young men end up at the local mall where they discover Svenning's father's gameshow set being built. Their day then becomes an oscillation between attempts to destroy the set (utilizing the nefarious Jay and Silent Bob) and attempting to reconcile with their respective girlfriends.

In the process of telling this story, Kevin Smith's world is fleshed out with intriguing characters. Jay and Silent Bob return from Clerks, Ben Affleck appears as a Shannon a man with an obscure sexual fetish, and Ethan Suplee sort of takes on a role from Clerks (see the commentary for that). In Mallrats, we get Brodie, one of Smith's most interesting and developed characters. He's intelligent, acerbic and witty.

More than anything, Mallrats serves to create an intriguing location. Just as the Quick Stop in Clerks is a well-defined place and time, the Eden Prarie Mall in Mallrats becomes a distinct location populated by bizarre individuals fresh out of Kevin Smith's warped humor and imagination.

The acting is one of the highlights to this effect; Jason Lee is excellent at Brodie. Lee has excellent timing, especially of facial expressions in response to statements made in his vicinity. Shannon Dougherty is quite good as Brodie's girlfriend, Rene. She has a softer cast to her than the tabloids would paint the actress out to have. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith play Jay and Silent Bob well, making them into something more than the pointless dancing idiots they appear as in Clerks.

While Clerks often receives great praise and Mallrats receives great criticism, I think the critics got it wrong. Clerks has charm in that it makes a lot of messages. Mallrats develops characters well. And it's funny. If you read my reviews, often you find I have some problem with comedies in that they fail to hold up over multiple viewings. Mallrats remains funny after several watchings.

And it is funny. Brodie has some lines that are flat out hilarious. And more than that, Mallrats illustrates perfectly Kevin Smith's ability to sustain a joke. Recurring jokes pop up throughout this film. They work well.

Outside a simple resolution, that is how simplistically the female characters resolve actions and emotions with their men, this film works very well as a character study as two young men explore loss and redemption.

For his part, T.S. has a lot of airtime. He's attempting to resolve things with Brandi and he often seems lackluster and depressed. Jeremy London, who plays T.S., works well in those ways. He plays down T.S. and that portrays the character well.

In short, Mallrats is a fun film, but in its original incarnation, it does not live up to its potential. Seen in clips of deleted scenes is a much more sensible film that works better. The viewer of the original Mallrats on DVD feels somewhat cheated. Like Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it seems Mallrats was cut from its original vision to be something it truly is not. In this case, we get to the mall much quicker.

But what it is is a movie with dialog that is fast and natural, the characters are interesting and funny. It's worth your time, if for nothing else than to get you into Kevin Smith's universe.

Review 2 - Mallrats: 10th Anniversary Edition - For the tenth anniversary, Smith and Mosier recut the film with the previously deleted footage in as well as alternate takes and footage that appeared in the television version so a new movie is created. Fortunately, the original is also on the disc, as are all of the bonus features from the original DVD release, making this the comprehensive Mallrats collection.

The tenth anniversary recut of Mallrats, then, tells the story of two couples that have recently broken up. Following a disastrous night at the Governor's Ball, T.S. Quint is dumped by his girlfriend, Brandi. Brandi's father is trying desperately to make it as a television producer and has arranged for a pilot of a dating gameshow to be produced at the local mall. Brandi commits to being the bachelorette on the show, much to Quint's disgust.

At the same time, Brody, a slacker who was dating Rene finds himself dumped by her. Tired of his prioritizing video games over her, Rene leaves Brody. Brody, accompanied by Quint, heads to the mall for solace. Not to buy things, not to work, just to enjoy the environment. This is the story of the day two slackers try to win back their girlfriends by ruining a gameshow at the mall.

It is a silly plot and one too common in movies geared toward people in their late teens, early twenties. The truth is, though, Smith's new version (which was his original shooting script, apparently) makes everything make a great deal more sense. Instead of a nebulous fight filled with exposition, we see Brandi and Quint go through a situation that is both ridiculous and dangerous and get torn apart as a result.

Brody's story remains virtually unchanged and with good reason. His character's travails made perfect sense in the original, so there was nothing significant that needed alteration. His tumultuous relationship with Rene continues as if this was not a recut.

Despite Kevin Smith's warning at the beginning of the recut that declares this is the version that should never have been, the new version of Mallrats makes a lot more sense while preserving some of the best humor of the original film. Gone is the opening monologue that barely relates to the scene that opens the movie, gone are some of the awkward lines that were needed to fill the gaps left by the changed beginning (like the guy in the parking lot who gets punched by Quint - in the original - for asking if he used to date Brandi) and the use of alternate cuts makes the viewer feel like they are watching a completely different movie.

What hasn't changed in terms of the plot is the Jay and Silent Bob subplot, the Willam Black plot and most of Trish's part. Fans of Jay and Silent Bob need not worry, your boys are unharmed.

More significantly, the quality of the acting has not changed. Because this is a recut, not a redo, the acting is what it was. And a lot of credit must go to actor Jason Lee. This was his first motion picture and he does outstanding, clearly establishing himself with an acting presence that foreshadows his vibrant career. In fact, Lee is given a rather difficult acting assignment; play a slacker without appearing to play a slacker and without underselling the part. Lee mixes the right amount of verbal ambition and bad posture to replicate the archetypal . . . well, mall rat.

And outside using the characters for exposition (we never do quite find out why Brody knows Trish, but Quint does not), the new footage makes the characters make a great deal more sense. We get the impression that Brandi is actually quite intelligent and working toward something and that she feels her future is jeopardized by Quint's shenanigans. T.S. comes across more like a guy who actually cares about Brandi than he did in the original cut. And Rene works rather well as a young woman who is just plain fed up.

The new cut features extra DVD bonuses, like the Clerks X cut, the new Mallrats features brand new commentary, an introduction to the new cut by Kevin Smith and a pretty cool "Mallrats Tenth Anniversary Question and Answer Session" which is a real treat for any fan to watch. Ultimately the viewer and fan of View Askew movies is granted an all-around tighter movie that makes it worth viewing, even for people who did not quite like the original. And for those who did enjoy the first cut, it's here too!

For other movies by Kevin Smith, please visit my reviews of:
Clerks
Chasing Amy
Dogma
Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back
Jersey Girl
Clerks II
Zack And Miri Make A Porno
Cop Out
Red State

7.5/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Joke Is On The Audience . . . But We Wanted It! Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back

The Good: Funny, Allusions, Character progression
The Bad: Predictable, So much was cut!
The Basics: Funny and enjoyable for movie buffs and people who enjoy Kevin Smith's movies, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back ages well.


Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is one of those films that people tend to take or leave and they take it if they enjoy Kevin Smith's prior works (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma) and leave if they haven't seen or didn't enjoy Smith's previous works, this one is certainly not going to get people to watch his films. The 2-DVD set is pretty much the best argument ever for DVD short of The Criterion Collection DVD set of Brazil. The magic of the DVD is that there's a whole second film of Kevin Smith et al. introducing cut scenes from Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is a hard sell, so I won't try to sell it to those of you who haven't seen Kevin Smith's prior works. If you haven't seen Clerks, Chasing Amy, or Dogma, go see at least one of them and then come back to this. This film is appreciable if you know the players involved.

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back follows the exploits of Jay and Silent Bob from New Jersey through Hollywood. The plot is simple; the pair has a comic book based upon them and when they learn there is a film being made of their characters, they discover the internet and criticism there. So, the pair heads to Hollywood under the logic that if the movie isn't made, no one can badmouth them. It's solid logic from stoners. Once you accept that, you're fine. The rest of the film is the caper of Jay and Silent Bob falling in with a group of diamond thieves, losing them, and getting to Hollywood.

Criticizing Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is as stupid as those two yo-yos that went and sued the makers of Duce Bigalow, Male Gigolo (or was it The Animal?) because there was a faux reviewer who recommended the film. If you go to see a Rob Schneider flick, you're not expecting high brow or, if you are, you're an idiot. Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is a stupid film making fun of stupid films being made. It's stupid, but it doesn't have the pretense of being anything more. So, why should the audience?

My theory is, we shouldn't. Accept the premise and you'll enjoy it. The film makes hilarious pokes as sequels and how lame they usually are, they mock themselves and other works expertly.

The real gem of the DVD is watching the film and then going through the bonus disk for all of the additional stuff that is packed on there. The whole commentary on the cuts scenes was easily more funny than the actual film and worth the price of the DVD alone. The different clips are great.

Here Kevin Smith makes a satire of the people he has worked with and it's amusing to see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon make fun of themselves while also playing other characters they have played in Smith's earlier films.

One of the surprises here is the quality of the acting. Ben Affleck convincingly plays Holden from Chasing Amy in a cameo early in the film as well as creating a very different character in the parody of himself. Similarly, Jason Lee's presence in the film as both Banky Edwards and Brody is strangely unconfusing; his physical appearance is not significantly altered between the two roles, but he actively portrays them as different people and he successfully sells them.

While many would applaud Will Farrell as Marshal Willenholly, I think he's simply being Farrell as a Federal Wildlife Marshal and if you've seen Farrell in a few roles, you've seen his range. He does nothing extraordinary here. However, Shannon Elizabeth is great as Jay's love interest, Justice. She is more than simply a pretty face and a body here; she's actualized enough to keep our interest for the film.

The acting talent that dominates Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is Jason Mewes. Most of the airtime is his and here he recreates the quirky, angry, foul-mouthed drug dealer we've known from the other films.

This is not a film for the young. It's hilarious, but it uses a lot of harsh language and foul sexual references. It's not a terribly intellectual film, but it is one that those who despise pop culture will appreciate a lot: many recognizable faces from today's popular culture appear to do parodies of their more serious work.

If you want a treat and you've enjoyed Kevin Smith's other works, there's no better way to cap off the adventures of Jay and Silent Bob than this. And as a hint, stay through the end of the credits. :)

For other movies by Kevin Smith, please visit my reviews of:
Clerks
Chasing Amy
Dogma
Clerks II
Cop Out
Red State

6.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Something To Chase After: Chasing Amy (Kevin Smith's Outrageous Triple)

The Good: Funny, Intelligent, Well-Acted, Characters, Edgy plot
The Bad: Underuse of Jay and Silent Bob, Disparities in Holden's i.q.
The Basics: A worthwhile film often misinterpreted as being about lesbian and heterosexual relationships when, in fact, it is about individuals being true to themselves and each other, Chasing Amy succeeds.


On the DVD to Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier discuss their library of works in baseball terms. They believe themselves to have a career of "admirable doubles" with one strike out. I tend to disagree. While Jay And Silent Bob Strikes Back is an admirable double, which was in the truest form a gift to fans of Smith's works, two of his other works are much more than that. Dogma (reviewed here!) is easily a home run and Chasing Amy is at least a solid triple.

Chasing Amy tells the story of Holden McNeil. He's a comic book artist who is often accompanied by his good friend Banky, the inker on the Bluntman And Chronic comic they work on together. Holden is a nice enough guy who falls rather instantly in love with Alyssa upon their initial meeting. After they are out for the second time, Holden learns that Alyssa is a lesbian and after a confrontation filled with honesty and emotion, they become friends. Holden and Alyssa have a wonderful relationship until Holden declares his love for her. After that, the film changes. The two begin a relationship that defies definitions and challenges those around them. Surprisingly unaffected is Alyssa. More affected are Holden and Banky and when Alyssa's past is unearthed, Holden and Banky are each forced to confront the truth about themselves.

Where Chasing Amy succeeds is in its portrayal of people as individuals. The characters are not simply "types" written to fit into neatly defined criteria. Instead, the characters define themselves, allowing their own personalities to determine their path, as opposed to letting the labels they have to dominate their existence. Alyssa's speech when she is in bed with Holden is a perfect example, when she speaks of loving Holden on her own terms and not for any other reason.

The film is about defying roles and being an individual, being actualized as opposed to buying into a label, stereotype or group. There is no one in this film that is not aware of who they are and that is a rare thing. One of the shining examples is the supporting character Hooper X. Hooper understands he has an image of black power to sell over his softer, homosexual affect which he lives honestly by. The dichotomy is remarkable.

It's refreshing to see a film with a few characters who are each quite well defined. In essence, there are only six characters, three of whom - Alyssa, Holden and Banky - who dominate the story. And the thing is, the story is advanced by each of the characters contributing and each one does so within their means and personality. This film is remarkably devoid of anything artificial. Each of the characters feels real.

And that's the strength, the magic, of this admirable triple. In reality, there are colors, things are not black and white or shades of gray, there are colors which fill the world and surround us.

As a bonus, each of the actors gives a great performance. Ben Affleck gives an uncharacteristically good portrayal of Holden. Joey Lauren Adams portrays Alyssa with wonderful depth. But the real scene stealers are Jason Lee as Banky and Dwight Ewell as Hooper. They each take very good characters on paper and transform them into excellent characters on screen.

The weakness of Chasing Amy is largely in the mind of the viewer. I admire Holden's meta-consciousness. His ability to look at the two important people in his life and evaluate them with intelligence and insight is remarkable. It is, therefore, frustrating that the action he takes, the decision he ultimately makes, displays a remarkable lack of logic or intelligence.

Outside that, the film is a true modern classic, a wonderful 90s tale that captures essential points of human growth from young adulthood into adulthood.

For other works with Ben Affleck, be sure to check out my reviews of:
He's Just Not That Into You
Daredevil
Bounce
Forces Of Nature
Shakespeare In Love
Buffy The Vampire Slayer

8.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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