Writer: Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden (screenplay) and Ned Vizzini (novel)
Director: Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden
Starring: Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakas
Synopsis
a kid who is very pressured in being great thinks he may possibly make an attempt at suicide and convinces an e.r. doctor to admit him to the psych ward for 5 days where he finds companions and love.
MOster
This movie is, to a T, exactly what it is. If you can get past the 20 minute mark you'll know the ending.
Everything down the entire stack of the production was stock. The camera is where it has to be in this shot. The expressions are what they're supposed to be when that thing you knew was going to happen happens. There is slow motion where the formula calls for slow motion. There are montages and mean teenagers and a troupe of mental patients picked from movies ranging from considerably better (Cuckoo's Nest) to are-you-fucking-serious (The Dream Team). BUT, there is some sensitivity to middle-eastern culture which is a little bit new, including reconciliation between a Muslim and a Jew (who had never interacted before).
Actually, what I said in the beginning (Do you remember that? It was all of a hundred words ago) is not quite true; because the ending of the movie was obviously, glaringly re-tooled due to a poor reception by some preview audiences.
Seriously, I can't deal with this shit. I'd rather watch an annoying arty movie that doesn't make nearly as much sense as it could; or a slow, quiet, beautiful study of morality; or... fuck... Sleepaway Camp.
The Woman
terrible. i feel as though whoever was responsible for this movie really had something and then it got ripped apart in post production into something unrecognizable. it was like when you see parodies of MTV stuff. with the editing and lack of a cohesive plot. everything's hip and new! look at this crazy editing and maybe you won't notice the terrible storyline. like a crow or magpie being distracted by shiny things.
suicide and institutionalization is sort of heavy, but has the potential for greatness, especially when the main character is sort of that 'i'm so different and all alone in my despair but really i'm totally exactly the same as every other teenager on the face of the planet' emotionally. plus such greats were completely left unused and wasted like jim gaffigan and zach galafiniakas, who we both decided actually killed himself in the end, but it was too much of a downer so they cut it and just threw in a line at the end to explain his mysterious absence. we learned nothing about emma roberts character either. just here's a chick who is approximately the same age as you so there can be a love interest. the only reason you know she's a cutter is because of the scars on her face, that way we don't have to go into it at all. she also gets to leave inpatient care the same time as our lead because...well...they made plans to go to a vampire weekend concert. that's as much explanation as we got.
for a movie about self discovery this was pretty shallow. and terrible. and stagnant.
p.s. it's actually not kind of a funny story.
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