marina-31

I recorded this from the UP channel and though it wasn't in HD, I still found myself loving it and couldn't bring myself to delete it when done watching it as I usually do after watching something DVR-ed. I can't really figure out how to describe what I loved about it, but I think mostly it's the interesting culture clash and, as Niklas points out, the attraction between his left-brain temperament and her right-brain creativity. The dialog was so real, so honest, and I felt like a fly on the wall getting to watch a very real human connection develop over the few hours they had together - a connection that neither expected. They each learned a lot about themselves and each other because they were both very real and honest with each other more and more as the day went on. My primary criteria for liking a movie is whether I am given a reason to care about the characters, and this story did draw me in to caring for all the characters from the start.

The first thing I pay attention to in watching a movie is whether I care about the characters. I couldn't bring myself to care about these people, mostly because the writing and acting was not good enough. The feel of the whole thing was that it was amateurish. The story didn't flow in a way that felt real. Also, I don't like stories where there's not a good resolution or denouement, even if not a happy ending. This didn't leave me with the feeling of satisfaction. The theme seemed to be relentless evil without any real hope of the good guy winning out in the end. Without giving away the end, I'll just say that if it was meant to tie up the plot, it failed to work for me. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

My first question in evaluating a movie is, "Why should I care about these characters?" There was no reason to care about any of these characters, and if a film doesn't start out "hooking" me into caring, I get irritated with it. These women were annoying, self-absorbed, unlikeable, and demandingly selfish. I tried to care, but was glad that I had kitchen work to do while I watched it or I'd have given up on it as a waste of time. The only reason I give it a 3 is that the acting was OK.

Why do "women's movies" think that we want to see real-life to the point that there is little redeeming value to what the characters are portrayed as going through? This movie reminded me of a person I work with who comes in every day assuming I'll be thrilled to hear about the boring details of her life and relationships.