Though life is usually a pass-fail thing, movies sometimes must be graded on a curve. If you don't, you'll get so caught up in what's wrong with films that you'll never be able to notice what's right with them. That's certainly the case with Living In Missouri.
It's the story of two friends and the woman who doesn't really come between them. Ryan (Connor Ratliff) is an office worker. His best friend Todd (Ian McConnel) is a video store clerk. They, along with Ryan's wife Amy (Christina Puzo), are waiting through their lives in the small town atmosphere of Missouri in the year before the first Star Wars sequel opens. Ryan and Todd are grown men who've never outgrown their adolescence and Amy's the relatively well-adjusted woman who finds herself stuck with these two maladjusted misfits.
There are quite a few things to praise about the film, but you've first got to acknowledge and accept a really massive flaw. The camera work on Living in Missouri is atrocious. It doesn't even reach the barest standards of professionalism. It's like the movie was shot by the "C+" students in a community college film class. The shots are framed fairly well and the lighting is perfectly fine, but any time the camera has to pan, tilt or move at all, the result is noticeably amateurish.
The best things about the movie are the performances of Ratliff and McConnel. They both are playing characters who haven't grown up, but in two very different ways. Ryan is the sort of smart, basically capable guy who's able to get through life without every really needing to grow up. He's charming enough to get a girl to marry him. He's got enough drive and talent to hold down a professional job. But on an emotional level, he's still a teenager. He only likes playing with his young son because they can play Star Wars, Ryan's favorite thing in the world. He has a room to himself in his and Amy's house with a Do Not Enter sign on the door. He becomes rude and condescending whenever he can't get his way. He really has no self-control.
Todd's a different sort of loser. He's the socially inadequate guy who can't talk to girls and still lives with his parents. His only real friend is Ryan and he's the put-upon subordinate in the relationship. Todd is too uncomfortable and too unsure to do anything but sit and watch his life go by. At the beginning of the story, he seems like the pathetic childhood friend that Ryan can't get rid of. As the story unfolds, though, you realize that Ryan wants to keep Todd around because he is such a loser. Paired with Todd, Ryan's the smart, smooth, controlling leader of the pair. He's comfortable being Todd's better and that sense of superiority makes up a big part of Ryan's self-image.
These two, and Amy, are stuck in going nowhere lives until Ryan loses his job and Amy reaches out to Todd for friendship as her marriage degenerates. The story that unfolds of three ordinary people who either do or don't take charge of their lives has some mediocre pop culture references, college flashbacks and flashes of Todd's fantasy life woven through it.
The only other real problem with the film, besides the horrible camera work, is that it focuses too much on Ryan in the first half of the movie and he's an unlikable jerk. You really can't care that much about him, but Todd is a more sympathetic in the lameness without ever becoming a cartoon. He's just as screwed up but because it's inwardly focused, he's pitiful and not annoying. Amy is more compelling as she tries to deal with a husband who's never stopped being a kid. When the movie focuses more on Todd and Amy, it becomes a better film
Living In Missouri does a very good job of examining a couple of those guys-who-won't-grow-up in a realistic and not theatrical fashion. If you can get past the awful camera-work, there's some genuine human tragedy to be found.
It's the story of two friends and the woman who doesn't really come between them. Ryan (Connor Ratliff) is an office worker. His best friend Todd (Ian McConnel) is a video store clerk. They, along with Ryan's wife Amy (Christina Puzo), are waiting through their lives in the small town atmosphere of Missouri in the year before the first Star Wars sequel opens. Ryan and Todd are grown men who've never outgrown their adolescence and Amy's the relatively well-adjusted woman who finds herself stuck with these two maladjusted misfits.
There are quite a few things to praise about the film, but you've first got to acknowledge and accept a really massive flaw. The camera work on Living in Missouri is atrocious. It doesn't even reach the barest standards of professionalism. It's like the movie was shot by the "C+" students in a community college film class. The shots are framed fairly well and the lighting is perfectly fine, but any time the camera has to pan, tilt or move at all, the result is noticeably amateurish.
The best things about the movie are the performances of Ratliff and McConnel. They both are playing characters who haven't grown up, but in two very different ways. Ryan is the sort of smart, basically capable guy who's able to get through life without every really needing to grow up. He's charming enough to get a girl to marry him. He's got enough drive and talent to hold down a professional job. But on an emotional level, he's still a teenager. He only likes playing with his young son because they can play Star Wars, Ryan's favorite thing in the world. He has a room to himself in his and Amy's house with a Do Not Enter sign on the door. He becomes rude and condescending whenever he can't get his way. He really has no self-control.
Todd's a different sort of loser. He's the socially inadequate guy who can't talk to girls and still lives with his parents. His only real friend is Ryan and he's the put-upon subordinate in the relationship. Todd is too uncomfortable and too unsure to do anything but sit and watch his life go by. At the beginning of the story, he seems like the pathetic childhood friend that Ryan can't get rid of. As the story unfolds, though, you realize that Ryan wants to keep Todd around because he is such a loser. Paired with Todd, Ryan's the smart, smooth, controlling leader of the pair. He's comfortable being Todd's better and that sense of superiority makes up a big part of Ryan's self-image.
These two, and Amy, are stuck in going nowhere lives until Ryan loses his job and Amy reaches out to Todd for friendship as her marriage degenerates. The story that unfolds of three ordinary people who either do or don't take charge of their lives has some mediocre pop culture references, college flashbacks and flashes of Todd's fantasy life woven through it.
The only other real problem with the film, besides the horrible camera work, is that it focuses too much on Ryan in the first half of the movie and he's an unlikable jerk. You really can't care that much about him, but Todd is a more sympathetic in the lameness without ever becoming a cartoon. He's just as screwed up but because it's inwardly focused, he's pitiful and not annoying. Amy is more compelling as she tries to deal with a husband who's never stopped being a kid. When the movie focuses more on Todd and Amy, it becomes a better film
Living In Missouri does a very good job of examining a couple of those guys-who-won't-grow-up in a realistic and not theatrical fashion. If you can get past the awful camera-work, there's some genuine human tragedy to be found.