The Romantics

Gosh there are some harsh critics here (or maybe I'm too easy). Not a great film but not that dreadful. Still worth watching. Weird ending though.

Surprised there's not more reviews up for this one given its cast. I saw it about two weeks back when it unexpectedly hit the local art theater near me and not knowing much about it just went for it.

Film was all right enough though hardly great. Film keeps you interested in the proceedings-and it is surprisingly well shot for a first time filmmaker--several lovely scenes of the characters outdoors here...but there is nothing here you haven't seen before plot wise. Cast is pretty uneven--but that fits here because so is the writing. A lot of exposition is given for the 3 main characters--you find out about various rivalries and such, but none of it really matters since it hardly really explains the actions the characters take throughout the film. With the possible exception of Katie Holmes' character you really don't exactly know what's behind the three main characters action beyond some vague unhappiness with each other from the past when they all went to school together...and so without knowing what their motivations are for acting the way they act throughout, its hard to really care about them let alone care about which one of the 2 main women Josh Dumael's going to pick by the end of the movie.

Of the three main performances--I actually thought Dumael turned in a rather good performance considering his character as written is a huge indecisive moron. (he knows for a fact for most of the running time of the film that he needs to break off his engagement to Anna paquin to go back to Katie Holmes but consistently either puts it off or lets paquin talk him into going through with it even though his every action screams how much he does not want to.) Given the roles i've seen Dumael in so far, it was a nice change of pace for him--playing the insecure and easily cowered stiff instead of the take charge guy he normally plays.

Holmes pretty much sticks to Joey from Dawson's Creek mode here--playing prideful and wounded and desperately trying to not show either to all her friends. (its not a bad performance, its right within her wheelhouse and she does a good job more or less of making you care about what's happening--but its nothing you haven't seen before, especially if you were a fan of Dawson's.) Paquin is kind of stuck with the role of the shrew here--and while the film makes some overtures to explain why she is the way she is (and why she's set out on marrying Dumael despite the fact that she knows he doesn't love her) her performance suffers from her character's general unpleasantness--the film barely even explains why the characters in the movie are her friends in the first place--so it barely even make sense that the characters should be going out of their way to not make her upset. She's fine but she's really saddled with a badly written character who when the film first starts seems like she could be much more interesting.

Even though i liked the supporting players all well enough and liked that the film tries to establish them as actual characters and not just one dimensional friends (elijah wood as paquin's drunken brother is definitely one of the film's highlight...and Candice bergen appears briefly as paquin's mom--who did the casting here?!?!?) the film really is an old fashioned romantic drama between the main 3 performers. That right there is probably why the film is not as special as it could of been--old fashioned romantic dramas are fine as a genre--but this one clearly had aspirations of being a Big Chill like statement about today's late twenty something and how some can't for the life of us make up their minds about what they want when it matters most...or about how some of us focus so hard on trying to get the things we want even when we know for a fact its the wrong thing and so we lie ourselves into thinking its the right thing. Its not a bad underlying theme for a film like this to have--and i like that the film has lofty goals for itself, but the main romantic pairing is so stiff and obvious that you never seriously think that Dumael and Paquin will actually end the film the way they started (if the two of them had some sort of chemistry together on the other hand, or if there was anything shown between the two of them that might of indicated why the two characters were together in the first place besides that the plot demanded it..i might've been able to believe that the two of them as a couple.)---i'm not going to say if they do end up together or not--but i think the fact that the film leaves everything kind of open-ended kind of not at the last minute speaks to that. (I did very much like how the ending was more implied then spelled out--something that i feel was a very nice touch and i certainly hope was from the book--of which i seriously hope went deeper into the mindset of its characters far better then the screenplay here does.) Overall--its not a bad watch but it could've been much better. The ingredients were all there.

Having read the book, everything about this movie was wrong, in my opinion. The characters in the book read as self-indulgent, out-of-touch post-Ivy Leaguers, but at least you have the benefit of being able to read some of their back stories. You know NOTHING about any of them in the movie - the viewer is given no reason to even try to care.

I said to the person with whom I watched this, the most interesting thing about this movie is the music. And the music wasn't even that interesting, nor was it present as much as it could have been. I felt the movie was wholly miscast. Anna Paquin, while blond, was nothing like how I envisioned Lila while reading the book if only because she was about a foot too short. They took the one interesting feature of Laura's away (she's Jewish) and removed the part that really set her apart from her WASPy Yale buddies. Elijah Wood, while talented, was not creepy enough to play Chip, the bride's brother and Candice Bergen was not severe enough to be Augusta. I was also disappointed that they diminished her part - she kept everyone on their toes.

I highly recommend skipping it all together. I wish I had that hour and a half of my life back.

I wanted to like this movie, I usually enjoy small character studies, but sadly this film was a disappointment. Maybe it was too much to expect Katie Holmes to carry the story. Unfortunately her lack of range and/or talent is obvious in this film. And, Anna Pacquin, who is so good and fiery in True Blood, is left with little to do except be a bitch. Malin Ackerman plays a riff on her 27 Dresses role. Candice Bergn is mostly absent in the film. Finally, Josh Duhamel stumbles through the movie with the same stunned look on his face for the whole film. It is hard to imagine either woman in this film would be attracted to him. Character driven films are only enjoyable when we learn and understand the motivation behind the characters, or when we watch them grow and evolve. In this film we learn little of the character's background story or motivations, and there certainly is no growth. Overall the film is a sad mess, and I will not be recommending it to my friends.

What starts out as a decent romantic comedy quickly devolves into a self-indulgent joke about whiny, privileged white kids who (gasp) don't know what to do with their lives! It wouldn't be so insulting if it didn't masquerade as a film about academia and intelligence, yet feature such astoundingly sophomoric scripting. Any juice that can be squeezed from the "post-college malaise" hokum is soured by cliché and archetype. And its pseudo hipster posing (the music and costumes shout indie cool as loud as they possibly can) don't cover up the fact that this movie has no substance to match its style.

Performances are fine, but not spectacular, apologies owed to the supporting actors who don't have characters to hang a portrayal around. Malin Akerman and Adam Brody stand out because of their jovial personalities and familiarity, but the rest of the cast struggles to stay afloat in a sea of underdevelopment.

The great conflict at the middle of the picture is a love triangle between Katie Holmes, Anna Paquin, and Josh Duhamel, but you care so little about these three people that you'd just as soon see them end up alone. As for realism and stakes, ask yourself this: have you ever thought of Josh Duhamel as a brooding academic?

In summation: a mainstream romantic dram-com dressed up like an indie film that sins thrice: it's boring, clichéd, and insignificant. A shame considering all of the young talent involved.