This movie is so similar to 1983's The Big Chill—eight longtime friends gather for a weekend at a big, rich-person's Southern mansion (except whereas in The Big Chill, the eight were friends from college, here we mostly don't know how they're connected)—that I feel like it must be an homage by Clea Duvall. I like her as an actress, so I'd hate to believe that it's just a blatant ripoff. The eight cast members are even structured the same way: The Big Chill had seven friends in their early 30s convening, with the eighth being someone a decade younger; same here. Duvall has assembled a winning cast, although Melanie Lynskey's character is super annoying. The plot is pretty thin and far-fetched: You have to wonder why Jessie (Duvall's character) wouldn't have had this "you need to get out of your bad marriage" conversation directly and privately with her sister (the Cobie Smulders character). Lynskey's character is the driving force behind this intervention, and except for one small moment, you'd never even know Jessie and Ruby were sisters.It's wrapped up a little too tidily, too, with the imperiled married couple, who seem to actually despise each other, suddenly deciding to give it a go. Not a bad movie, not really a very good movie, either...I suppose faint praise, but...you could do worse?
... View MoreSolid dramatic comedy about four sets of couples with their own quirks and problems, giving a good balanced outlook at relationships and the various ways in how they can work and work out.The cast is great and the comedy is subtle. The film does a good job of addressing multiple viewpoints and informing the audience of who each character is and what they are feeling. The best aspect is probably how then each defined character interacts with each other, as well as which ones don't. Often times you get the feeling more of watching a play than a movie (in a good way).Overall I recommend this film to people who like real life stories, if you are looking for lots of laugh out loud comedy, high stakes or extreme drama then you won't find it here. But a pleasant, thoughtful and enjoyable look at relationships as they mature is delivered in very fine fashion.
... View MoreAs I am a big follower of Cletasha (Clea and Natasha) work so am will not be biased giving my review for this movie. It was light-hearted, variably predictable but great to watch the couples roller-coaster ride. NO spoilers but good ending. The movie made me think of the conclusion to the movie's Yeah but I'm a Cheerleader movie) ending after Megan and Graham drive off together. I liked all characters as I have seen and liked them in their previous movies especially Cletasha and John Ritter. I would say this a light-hearted comedy with relatable issues we have to face in our lives. Considering it's Clea's debut movie it's pretty good viewing. I am not giving anything away in the story plot cos you have to watch it and you will not be disappointed. Enjoy!
... View MoreThe talented actress Clea DuVall makes her major motion picture directorial and writing debut here, and also is one of the featured players in the ensemble cast of eight as well. The group gathers at a luxurious summer home, outside of Savannah, mainly to have an intervention and urge two of their friends to bail out of a very strained marriage.There's a lot of talent in this cast and they're effective in their particular roles. However, I found the screenplay to be terribly clichéd and non-believable on the whole, and the characters to be carping and annoying for the most part, reaching epiphanies during the movie that seemed to come out of "left field". Are we really supposed to feel for a character who's trying to make the argument that Hitler may have had good intentions in what he did, and thus maybe wasn't such a bad guy? How they left this scene in the film is beyond my comprehension.To note, there's lots of explicit language laced throughout the movie, as well as some highly suggestive sexual scenes,All in all, a talented cast is rather wasted here as the script and the whole thing just didn't ring true, in my opinion, plus the usual 180's at the end were not worth the long slog to get there.
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