Deep, soul-crushing regret is something many of us as humans share -- whether criminal, interpersonal, or career-oriented, we carry this baggage with us everywhere we go. It penetrates our psyche, our relationships, our friendships, and the way we carry on daily life. It can drive people to do things suddenly and out of impulse, often to the destruction of everyone around them.Welcome to "I Melt With You." This artistic, visually stunning drama takes four middle-aged college friends, each with their own baggage, to the coasts of central California for a rowdy reunion of one week. Rivers of bourbon will flow, casual sex will be had, and -- oh yes -- there will be drugs. Lots of 'em. Things take a nasty turn, however, when an oath made their senior year of college resurfaces. Unfortunately, to say any more of the story would be treading in "spoiler" territory. Therefore, I apologize in advance if this review seems disjointed. For such a mediocre film, there is a lot to say about it, and not a lot of spoiler-free foundation on which to base a review."I Melt With You" works in a few very key ways, and utterly fails in many others. The cinematography is absolutely stunning -- the film is shot on location with a digital camera and makes use of gorgeous vistas, colors, and surrealist imagery. The acting is also very strong and every one of the four main actors deliver their absolute best with the material they were given to work with. And the soundtrack is absolutely killer -- 80s post-punk and indie rock may as well be another character in the film when you consider how frequently and effectively the soundtrack is used.Now let's move onto what doesn't work. Immediately, the excessive partying displayed by the four characters bothered me because it just didn't seem realistic. I get that these four guys are each carrying around some serious baggage and are displaying some behavioral issues, but at least 1/3rd of this film is made up of sequences of pill snorting and partying. If these sequences were shortened by 50%, there would be no effectiveness lost to the film's message and there would've been ample more time to develop more likable characters.And man, trust me when I say that these guys are some real Grade-A douchebags. This film is supposed to depict the self-destruction of four otherwise likable guys from regret and past mistakes. I think the viewer's heartstrings are supposed to be tugged on, and maybe we're supposed to develop sympathy (or even empathy) with these characters. But with these jerkoffs it just never happened for me. Instead of examining some of my own guilt in life and thinking "wow, this is eerily close to a fever dream for me, please show me more and help me hate myself" (because THAT would be a good movie), I'm thinking "oh. that sucks. sorry, why do I care?"Therefore, without this very crucial piece of foundation, the film falls apart. This isn't "Requiem for a Dream" or "Trainspotting" where we actually get to know and care about our protagonists. We don't feel sorry for the characters in this film. Well, maybe some do...I didn't. If you are a 44-year-old man who snorts coke with his college friends and never reached emotional maturity, then maybe you'll relate.Overall, yes, this film offers some good things but they're nothing that can't be had in better and larger quantities in other great addiction dramas. Unless you're a total cinematography nerd, it's not worth the watch in my opinion.

I don't know how and why that project was allowed to happen, but wow, the idiocy of these people is spectacular... I was hoping for a "so bad its good" type of treat, but the pretension and total shallowness of the people who did that just made it annoying and no guilty pleasure.This movie is in fact a remake (or a rip-off?) of a great french- Italian movie from the late 70's called "LA GRANDE BOUFFE" by cult film maker Marco Ferreri and starring legendary actors Marcello Mastroianni, Philippe Noiret, Michel Piccoli and Ugo Tognazzi, and in the role of the woman the voluptuous Andrea Ferreol.the concept here is the same: 4 men get together in a house to commit suicide, witnessed in this path by a woman. Ferreri's movie was an allegory about modern consumerism and the spiritual suicide of a society.Now, this bunch of morons (sorry I really cant find other names to describe that) tried to do the same with their very limited imagination and their substandard story-telling skills: they just replaced the gourmet food used in the original with some recreational drugs, and tried to explain in your face why where they committing suicide, why, whyyyy?!?! look!! this is the reason why!! look! whhyyyy!??! ... yep, as bad as it gets!the original movie had the vision of an adult (the author) and a message that held the whole concept together. But here, the people behind this bad film appear like some middle class suburban children with no education: watch these actors try to go indie art-house and ending making idiots out of themselves, or this clueless director trying to play "author" but you cant help but imagining how lost he may have been in philosophy class (he is no Cassavetes neither so his directing style is laughable and he makes the actors sound bad)... not talking about the script: so much self-indulgence it is un- watchable.This kind of movie is most probably directed toward teenagers awakening to the first "life sucks" kind of darker feelings, and who have no education... but still, I would suggest skip this turd and get the original Ferreri movie instead! much more entertaining!I know, I know! Jeremy Piven from Entouage plays in this turd... but its not enough to save the film... oh, and they have cast for the part of the woman one of Ari Gold's female enemy-character from entourage ! she is no Andrea Ferreol neither!

I watched "I Melt with You" right after I watched "Husbands." On the surface the movies have a lot of similarities, both featuring middle-aged men at a crossroads in their lives, overindulging their Ids in a desperate attempt to relive the good times they left behind when they became responsible adults. But the movies have a lot of differences, too, the chief one being that "Husbands" was written and directed by the acclaimed John Cassavetes; "I Melt with You" was decidedly not.In "I Melt with You," four friends, all age 44, gather at a rented mansion in Big Sur for their annual reunion. Richard (an over-the-top Thomas Jane) is a failed novelist now teaching high school English; Jonathan (Rob Lowe) is a doctor/drug dealer; Ron (Jeremy Piven) is a money manager dodging the SEC; and Tim (Christian McKay), in what just as easily could have been the "token black friend" role, is defined by his homosexuality and thoughtful demeanor so I guess we don't have to know what he does for a living. Upon the guys' arrival at the vacation manse — which, I should mention, seems more within the actors' price range, not their characters' — the movie becomes "Less than Zero: The Reunion." Their week proceeds thusly: Get drunk and do coke.Drink some more and do more coke, plus pop some of those pills that Jonathan brought.Do donuts in Richard's Porsche while snorting coke.Do still more coke.Splash naked in the ocean.Get drunk and do coke, with some pills to mellow things out.More cocaine! Go fishing to come down. Say things like real love "made every day anointed." Got any more cocaine? This goes on FOR AN HOUR. No matter how artful director Mark Pellington's camera angles are, no matter how beautiful the lighting, no matter how cool the soundtrack, watching Jane, Lowe, Piven and McKay Hoover up mountains of cocaine and talk about p---y hair gets real tedious real quick. In real life if these guys ingested as much drugs and alcohol as they do in this movie they'd be in an emergency room by the second day of their gathering — or dead. And given how insufferable these guys are we wish they would die. Someone does eventually, though not of an accidental overdose, and when that happens the movie goes from tedious to stupid. This is where I should bring up that Carla Gugino is in this too, as a cop/deus ex machina, but I'm betting she wouldn't be offended if you forgot she's part of this movie.I didn't exactly like "Husbands" — I thought parts were better than the whole — but I appreciated what Cassavetes was trying to do, not to mention it features some strong acting. There's little to appreciate about "I Melt with You," beyond a good soundtrack and some beautiful cinematography. No, wait — there is one other thing I appreciated about "I Melt with You": after I watched it I had a much higher opinion of "Husbands" — and "Less than Zero."

This might be the worst movie I've ever seen. The only redeeming quality is the soundtrack, and maybe a few funny quotes. A bunch of selfish California Hollywood types who think their life is oh so bad whaaaaa. Yes, their lives are terrible but it's because they never got it. And this movie doesn't get it. Don't waste your time.The plot had a lot of potential. Disappointing to see several of my favorite actors partake. I've lost a lot of respect for them. This could have been a great movie but instead it is another example of the simple-mindedness coming out of Hollywood. Life is too short for you and all of us to get all caught up in this kind of crud.