If you are reading these comments, then you may be looking for some insight before you rent this movie or after you had just seen it. Most of the unfavorable comments arise from the perspective of Ryan Rose, played by Denis O'Hare, the neighbor or outsider of the Hollywood business and the "audience" of the movie. The entire movie shot in digital video (DV), is like this loud barking dog, represented by critics acclaiming the movie as one of the years' best, and the audience just can't stand it. They want to just kill the dog (see How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog) and go on to the next movie.
Well, if you feel that way, so be it.
I think this movie is a real gem. If you're looking for a real plot--you won't find much here, except some surprising character revelations. This film is shot in a dogma-magnolia-tenebaums style where the moments and emotions fuel the movie rather than a specific character transformation from point A to point B. It's a comedy, where the actors' and directors' intent is to poke fun in their own lives and world. If you're looking for sympathetic characters with no flaws--you won't find any here, except maybe the neighbors who are the outsiders. Then again, these characters were not made to be sympathetic, but for you to take them as who they are.
The film starts out very slowly, like the preparation of any party. While the leads do not take any part in the actual preparation, a glimpse into their lives are seen. The camera and directing moves around like a voyeur into different rooms and conversations when the partygoers arrive. The directing style is very close and personal, intimate and claustrophobic at times, but raw and real.
Real and as real as it can ever get in Hollywood. For example, two couples are played by actors who are married to each other in real life (Kline and Cates, the Golds; and Hickey and Posey, the Adams). Kline and Cates' real life children also participate in some very, very adorable scenes which may lend to their future acting careers. The photographs on the wall were taken by Jennifer Beals, who has photographed the couple a lot in preproduction--though you can't see them up close. Otis is Jennifer Jason Leigh's dog outside of this film and in this film. Even the yoga instructor and props are part of Leigh's life. Cumming and Leigh wrote the scripts with these SPECIFIC actors and actresses in mind, thus giving them mannerisms they actually do on film and also, not on camera. There is this portion in the film where the guests came up with toasts, celebrating Cumming and Leigh's anniversary. However, these toasts were not scripted but improvised or written by the characters themselves to "surprise" Cumming and Leigh. The toasts themselves were very creative and yet within their characters. Cumming even signs his own book in real life, called Tommy's Toy, for a neighbor. Cumming claims in the DVD that he will finish that book sometime this year.
Yeah, whatever.
Sure, all this seems very self-important, indulgent, stereotypical Hollywood glamour, but I haven't seen any "authentic" casting like this in any other movie. Even though, they are all actors playing actors who are close friends in real life, it is an effortless and authentic kind of feeling you get when you watch them interact with each other. If you didn't know that beforehand, then maybe you won't be able to tell the difference.
I enjoyed this one scene when they were playing Charades. I guess actors take this game seriously, because in a way, it is their craft, so they pick these obscure titles from novels, songs, or whatever for the other team to guess. But in one scene, Jerry Adams, the business man plays by Hickey, goes absolutely ballistic and overly competitive. Like a whining critic cursing at a bad movie for cheating him out of his money and time, he hilariously verbally jumps on his own teammates for not going on to the next syllable or not getting the point. Don't you know someone like that when you are playing this friendly board game or party game?
*Possible spoiler ahead.
There is no real plot, but two points the movie attempts to get across. First of all, everyone is flawed--the dialogue scathingly points out the scratches on every character. These flaws are mainly demonstrated in the Hollywood perspective of deciding to have a child. Second, the choice of having a career versus having a child and family is the centerpiece of this film. The issue is brought out in the interactions between Jane Adams (child but still working and stressed), Cates (two children, not working and happy?) and Leigh (working, but going downhill, but her husband wants a child). This depends on the maturity of the characters--(i.e. whether or not they are still thinking they are 10 years younger than they really are) and the flaw in Leigh's character not willing to give up her career and her desire to play some role she can no longer play. Though it also seems Leigh's character's personal life (in the film) is affecting her acting career in her latest project, it is an introspective look on the choices we make in our personal lives in terms of drawing a line between the workplace and home. If the line becomes blurry or it doesn't exist in this glass house they live in, then, how would you cope with it if you were in their shoes? Are their shoes any different form ours?
The ending seems somewhat forced and abrupt, but overall, for a 19 day shoot, I guess they did the best with what they had. 7/10. I was pleasantly surprised.
Well, if you feel that way, so be it.
I think this movie is a real gem. If you're looking for a real plot--you won't find much here, except some surprising character revelations. This film is shot in a dogma-magnolia-tenebaums style where the moments and emotions fuel the movie rather than a specific character transformation from point A to point B. It's a comedy, where the actors' and directors' intent is to poke fun in their own lives and world. If you're looking for sympathetic characters with no flaws--you won't find any here, except maybe the neighbors who are the outsiders. Then again, these characters were not made to be sympathetic, but for you to take them as who they are.
The film starts out very slowly, like the preparation of any party. While the leads do not take any part in the actual preparation, a glimpse into their lives are seen. The camera and directing moves around like a voyeur into different rooms and conversations when the partygoers arrive. The directing style is very close and personal, intimate and claustrophobic at times, but raw and real.
Real and as real as it can ever get in Hollywood. For example, two couples are played by actors who are married to each other in real life (Kline and Cates, the Golds; and Hickey and Posey, the Adams). Kline and Cates' real life children also participate in some very, very adorable scenes which may lend to their future acting careers. The photographs on the wall were taken by Jennifer Beals, who has photographed the couple a lot in preproduction--though you can't see them up close. Otis is Jennifer Jason Leigh's dog outside of this film and in this film. Even the yoga instructor and props are part of Leigh's life. Cumming and Leigh wrote the scripts with these SPECIFIC actors and actresses in mind, thus giving them mannerisms they actually do on film and also, not on camera. There is this portion in the film where the guests came up with toasts, celebrating Cumming and Leigh's anniversary. However, these toasts were not scripted but improvised or written by the characters themselves to "surprise" Cumming and Leigh. The toasts themselves were very creative and yet within their characters. Cumming even signs his own book in real life, called Tommy's Toy, for a neighbor. Cumming claims in the DVD that he will finish that book sometime this year.
Yeah, whatever.
Sure, all this seems very self-important, indulgent, stereotypical Hollywood glamour, but I haven't seen any "authentic" casting like this in any other movie. Even though, they are all actors playing actors who are close friends in real life, it is an effortless and authentic kind of feeling you get when you watch them interact with each other. If you didn't know that beforehand, then maybe you won't be able to tell the difference.
I enjoyed this one scene when they were playing Charades. I guess actors take this game seriously, because in a way, it is their craft, so they pick these obscure titles from novels, songs, or whatever for the other team to guess. But in one scene, Jerry Adams, the business man plays by Hickey, goes absolutely ballistic and overly competitive. Like a whining critic cursing at a bad movie for cheating him out of his money and time, he hilariously verbally jumps on his own teammates for not going on to the next syllable or not getting the point. Don't you know someone like that when you are playing this friendly board game or party game?
*Possible spoiler ahead.
There is no real plot, but two points the movie attempts to get across. First of all, everyone is flawed--the dialogue scathingly points out the scratches on every character. These flaws are mainly demonstrated in the Hollywood perspective of deciding to have a child. Second, the choice of having a career versus having a child and family is the centerpiece of this film. The issue is brought out in the interactions between Jane Adams (child but still working and stressed), Cates (two children, not working and happy?) and Leigh (working, but going downhill, but her husband wants a child). This depends on the maturity of the characters--(i.e. whether or not they are still thinking they are 10 years younger than they really are) and the flaw in Leigh's character not willing to give up her career and her desire to play some role she can no longer play. Though it also seems Leigh's character's personal life (in the film) is affecting her acting career in her latest project, it is an introspective look on the choices we make in our personal lives in terms of drawing a line between the workplace and home. If the line becomes blurry or it doesn't exist in this glass house they live in, then, how would you cope with it if you were in their shoes? Are their shoes any different form ours?
The ending seems somewhat forced and abrupt, but overall, for a 19 day shoot, I guess they did the best with what they had. 7/10. I was pleasantly surprised.