I didn't really like this film, and I've been wondering why that is. It seems to be similar to films I like, and I'd say I felt a low level current of something like entertainment while I was watching it, and I was interested in seeing how things unfolded.
I think there were a few things wrong.
It was quirky in a way that doesn't really sync up with any of the kinds of quirky that I like. I hear, for example, people complain about Wes Anderson and the preciousness of his films, and I never really get it because that's exactly what I like about Anderson. Watching this, I get it, because this film's preciousness annoys me.
I think I'd be okay with that if I thought it was funny. I really did not find this film to be very funny.
So I'm kind of left with a not very funny, really precious film about two people who fail to grow in any way. I don't really like or identify with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this film. All he really seems to know is that his heart was broken by Zooey Deschanel, and while there's a dim acknowledgment that his perception of their relationship may have been inaccurate, he learns nothing from this. Since he learns nothing, Deschanel doesn't get an arc either. He would have to want to know and understand her to give her the kind of inner life she'd need to have to be capable of growing.
Even so ... I think I'd have been okay with this if I thought it was funny.
I think there were a few things wrong.
It was quirky in a way that doesn't really sync up with any of the kinds of quirky that I like. I hear, for example, people complain about Wes Anderson and the preciousness of his films, and I never really get it because that's exactly what I like about Anderson. Watching this, I get it, because this film's preciousness annoys me.
I think I'd be okay with that if I thought it was funny. I really did not find this film to be very funny.
So I'm kind of left with a not very funny, really precious film about two people who fail to grow in any way. I don't really like or identify with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in this film. All he really seems to know is that his heart was broken by Zooey Deschanel, and while there's a dim acknowledgment that his perception of their relationship may have been inaccurate, he learns nothing from this. Since he learns nothing, Deschanel doesn't get an arc either. He would have to want to know and understand her to give her the kind of inner life she'd need to have to be capable of growing.
Even so ... I think I'd have been okay with this if I thought it was funny.