A Garota dos meus Sonhos

I don't know why so many people seem to hate this movie; from the reviews, it seems they had no idea of what it was about before they watched it. As far as movies having to be 'believable', well, that isn't really what most cinema is about, now, is it. No one dances spontaneously like it's choreographed; spaceships don't travel past the speed of light; martial artists don't get to fight a whole crowd of opponents one at a time. So reality isn't what we're really after here, now is it? No. What we want is to go to a movie and feel good when we come out. And that's exactly what this film does, unless you can't stand the idea of a beautiful woman being gay and being happy. Which is what I suspect so many of the people who wrote the damning reviews feel. That said, well, I can't really comment on how good or bad the acting is; I can't really tell the difference between merely average or good acting, and great acting. But I can tell bad acting (think Chuck Norris in pretty much anything; nice guy, great martial artist, terrible actor), and this wasn't bad at all. In fact, I enjoyed every moment. I rate a movie on whether I will watch it again (I will), and how many times I want to hit the pause button to do something else, and I didn't stop the movie at all. Nine out of ten stars.

Unfortunately, the film is the mud as well as the gem. Two perfect beauties, two usually miscast actors in roles that befit them, a rather original script... it all should have gone great. However, the overall directing of the movie is superficial, most of the support actors play badly and the script oscillates between very good and very bad.

The idea of the movie was nice, the overall setup, but the ending just blew and the hysterical explosions of badly acted emotion over badly written lines were like giants craters in the road to liking the film.

Bottom line: if you are looking for a romantic comedy, this at least has some brain and a definite direction away from stereotypes, even if it doesn't avoid them all. But the quality of it isn't great.

So actually I really didn't like the movie.. I don't like exaggeration in movies overall and I feel like the actress that played Gray overexaggerated to much. But then, somehow, after about 50 minutes I started liking the movie. Until then, for me, it was like a bad, not really funny, rom-com.. but then it got a deeper meaning. It was less about two people (or 3?) falling in love but about self-discovery.

So for me this is a movie I will recommend this way (to mostly people of the LGBTQ+ community): "You're probably wanna stop watching it at one point or another, but that would be a mistake. In the end you're gonna be happy that you watched this movie"

On the surface this may seem frivolous, a light, somewhat implausible comedy with affable characters. A girl lives with her brother. She finds herself attracted to his fiancé,and irony ensues. It is, in that respect, a bit formulaic. However, Graham gives a very moving, underrated performance here. I considered myself liberal enough. I favored civil unions, but that was all. I succumbed to the generalization that it was a reasonable compromise. But, I watched a girl crying in an elevator, relating to her brother that she couldn't be GAY because she could never have a normal life. She could never marry. It changed my mind. That is a performance worthy of note.

Sure, there are a lot of things in "Gray Matters" that don't make sense. Some of the casting is slightly off, sometimes the characters slip into dialogue that seems to be cribbed from an after school special, sometimes the characters conveniently forget things just for the sake of moving the plot along. However, despite the obvious missteps, "Gray Matters", in the end, remains watchable and entertaining.

The film begins the way a lot of romantic comedies begin - with dancing. Sam and Gray waltz around a New York City loft, easily imitating scenes from their shared love of 1940's musicals. They seem the perfect couple - if only they weren't related... and therein lies the, yes, I'll admit - thin and silly premise upon which the film is based. You see, Sam and Gray are best friends and siblings. They grew up together, they live together, they speak in dialogue reminiscent of screwball comedies (or Lorelai and Rory from "Gilmore Girls", if that's the reference you prefer). Enter Bridget Moynahan as Charlie, the love interest they are about to share, to shake up their entire relationship and Gray's entire world. A wacky love triangle ensues, as do many, many romantic comedy clichés, made all the more clear by Molly Shannon as Gray's kooky best friend.

Misunderstandings and secrets abound as Gray starts to figure out who she really is, Charlie doesn't have a clue about anything, and Sam grows increasingly nervous. Despite all the silliness and illogical plot transitions, though, "Gray Matters" is, at its heart, a sweet, positive coming out movie. If you can suspend disbelief long enough to believe Heather Graham as a woman questioning her sexuality, it's easy to relate to her realization and subsequent meltdown, and the film takes just the right tone. The film has just enough exuberance to help you get over the illogical ending, too.

Granted, "Kissing Jessica Stein" does what this film attempts to do so much better, but nonetheless, "Gray Matters" is entertaining and fun.