Jeff Balsmeyer's "Ingenious" focuses on a pair of inventors about whom I had never heard. Dallas Roberts and Jeremy Renner play the friends who are trying to find the next great innovation, a process that isn't without a few challenges. Their great achievement is something that looks as if it would be pretty neat to own. Sometimes when I see movies that look at these topics, it surprises me that I'd never heard of the subject (in this case the kind of bottle opener that they create). Now that I know about it I just might try to go out and find one of those bottle openers. In the meantime I recommend this movie. It's not a masterpiece but still worth seeing.

I felt like the message of this film was that gambling is great because if you keep throwing your money at slim chances, eventually you'll hit big on something. The characters are all utterly unlikeable, and although Balsmeyer wants us to believe they redeemed themselves, they didn't. They simply blew it all on one more gamble and got lucky. The actors felt like bad 90s sitcom leftovers. I kept waiting for them to reveal that it was all a gag. But it wasn't. Rags to riches stories are meaningful only if the plot involves admirable choices on the part of the heroes. The type of scum who spend their lives concocting pointless garbage like talking beer openers don't deserve a film celebrating their uselessness.

I saw "Ingenious," a fun movie made right here in Tucson, starring Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, The Town, Bourne Legacy) and Dallas Roberts (3:10 to Yuma, the Grey, Shrink) and Ayelet Zurer (Munich, Man of Steel) about the challenges of breaking the big idea. It's a fun look at the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, and interpersonal dynamics as the quest for "the one" idea that wins, takes its toll.Dallas Roberts delivers a convincingly conflicted performance, as "Matt," he struggles to satisfy his need to be creative, inventive and ingenious, and desperately loyal to his old friend, Sam, while his marriage is strained by these very traits. Matt's wife, Gina (Ayelet Zurer), is played with an earnestness that draws you in immediately. The two have great chemistry and deliver the key tension that drives the arc of Matt's story of growth.Jeremy Renner's performance is authentic, and suffice it to say that you really feel for him and his inability to get out of his own way.I had a chance to meet some of the production team, including local Tucson producer Timothy E. Flood who did an *amazing* job capturing Tucson in this film. It's great to see the landmarks so faithfully captured.

I was on Google movies the other day trying to figure a way out of the heat and saw that this was playing at the "cheap seats" theatre that also screens art/independent films. Having just seen the Bourne Legacy (and having been a Renner fan since before it was cool), it struck me that this might be my only chance to actually see this. Aside from the fact that I like Renner as an actor, this was filmed in my hometown of Tucson (albeit while I was living out of state - grrr) - which makes it a must see on my list. I really enjoyed this flick. It's well paced after a slightly slow beginning, but I didn't notice it so much as I was ticking off all the places I know. While it touches on addiction (gambling and alcohol to be exact) it doesn't over dramatise it and depicts it in a very real way. You can tell that Sam (Renner) is definitely an alcoholic and gambling addict as he is more than willing to gamble with not only his best friend's money but his best friends' wife's money! That's over the top yet very true to life. It kept my attention wondering what goofy little gizmo they would come up with next and how they coped with failure after failure with optimism, and humour which is only something that true friends can achieve. Thought Matt's (Roberts) wife leaves him, the movie does a great job of not depicting either one of them as the bad person in the relationship (which is so often the case when dealing with addicts). You even get the happy ending where everyone comes together and they make their millions and they pull it off without being cheesy. If you're looking for a fun and quirky way to kill an hour or so, I would recommend this movie. If you're looking for something that's deep and emotional and will change your life, maybe this isn't for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking for superb acting, this is for you.