Kill The Messenger Review

Front page covered story----Jeremy Renner as journalist Gary Webb, who got way too deep into drug smuggling scandals in Kill The Messenger
                                 Kill The Messenger starts and ends with real footage of drug smuggling stories. The start involves stories questioning the methods of day to day citizens within drug smuggling rings. The end involves footage of the higher powers taking all the blame for such crimes. It's a perfectly defined way to show who Gary Webb really was. He was a journalist who, above all, was determined to reveal the truth and what people needed to know. He didn't care about a paycheck or respect, he just wanted ordinary citizens to be aware of what was going on around them. Of course, it's not a spoiler to say that the film finds Webb finding that the higher powers are a substantial part of why drug smuggling rings are running rampant. The film poses an interesting question of how much information is truly being hidden from the general public. Needless to say, the higher ups didn't want this information getting to ordinary citizens. This puts Gary's boss (Oliver Platt) and editor (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) in a position where even they are forced to throw him under the bus. Kill The Messenger is also that rare film which works better when less is happening. The deeper and deeper Gary gets into this conspiracy, the less interesting the story truly is. This is not to say that everything he finds isn't interesting. On the contrary, every bit of information as well as the rabbit hole he sinks himself into is fascinating. It's just that the very present air of mystery before the reveal proves to be the most intense. It's like watching or reading And Then There Were None for the first time without knowing who the murderer is.

                                Webb is played in top form by Jeremy Renner, an actor who baffles me. He's an excellent actor but seems to pick roles such as The Bourne Legacy and Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters that don't let him show his considerable talents. Perhaps he has fun taking an easy role every now and then and films such as The Hurt Locker and The Town give him a justified "one for them, one for me" approach. Renner looks so much the part that when they showed footage of the older Gary Webb at the end, I thought they put makeup on Renner to make him look older. Renner's quick, witty way of telling it like it is works spectacularly for playing Gary Webb. This was not just a man who changed journalism inadvertently, this was a man who was not living if he was not changing journalism. The film is perfectly cast for everyone else as well. Director Michael Cuesta and screenwriter Peter Landesman (who takes the script from both Webb's book "Dark Alliance" and Nick Schou's book "Kill The Messenger") bring in people who obviously know what they're doing for what would be thankless, nothing roles by lesser actors. Great talents such as Michael Sheen, Ray Liotta, Barry Pepper, Paz Vega, Yul Vazquez, Robert Patrick, Andy Garcia, Michael Kenneth Williams and Tim Blake Nelson come in for brief scenes and make the best of what they have. Other extremely talented actors also have solid roles. These include Rosemarie DeWitt as Sue, Gary's supportive but massively skeptical wive and Lucas Hedges as Ian, Gary's supportive but massively skeptical oldest son.

                                 The real strength of the film comes from Cuesta's direction, which makes use of both the quickly moving rabbit hole that Webb finds himself in, which is symbolized by shots of Webb riding his motorcycle and the slow burn that comes from being addicted to such information, such as when Liotta shows up briefly as a man who also got addicted to heaps of information he shouldn't have had. This is the kind of film that works as a conspiracy thriller equally as well as it works as a psychological "how far is too far" investigative drama. It's exciting to watch someone so passionate about exposing lies that affect people who are just trying to make an honest living. If you do not know the story and have not seen the film yet, I advise you to skip the next paragraph as I am going to integrate part of the conclusion into my review.

                                Nothing about the film shows Webb's passion for finding the truth and exposing it quite as much as a scene at the end in which Webb gives a big "screw you" to his boss, his editor and the world of journalism as it stands in general. After winning a National Journalists Award, Webb first imagines his view of what he has done compared to every other person in the room's view on his story. He imagines a huge standing ovation complete with a lot of "what to go, Gary" being told to him. Flash to the actual event and there are only a few people reluctantly clapping for him. Of the four people barely clapping for him, two of them are his wife and his older son. He then goes up to the podium where people look at him with the interest of a kid wanting dessert being handed a plate of broccoli. He then launches into a speech of how he thought, as a journalist, he was supposed to publish and uphold the true facts of what's going on in the world, whether good or bad, for everyone to see. Of course, this is after his editor and boss have thrown him under the bus and asked him to resign. He explains he does not want to work for any paper or news outlet that hides wrong doings of higher ups simply because they are higher ups. He then throws his signed resignation sheet at his boss and editor and walks away in complete silence. This is who Webb was---a man who cared more about giving the general public the information that needs to be said than just simply working as a journalist. Most journalists would be too scared to even utter a word about this story but Webb gave away the entire farm on the drug smuggling scandal.

                                While Kill The Messenger does lag in a few parts and perhaps could have reached its conclusion sooner, it is no doubt a worth seeing story about a man who changed what people brought to their papers. Renner is the driving force here, with a great cast backing him up to deliver a truly entertaining and fascinating film. This is both a fascinating study of just how scary exposure and investigative journalism can be and a solid mystery of just how much is being hidden from us day by day. Even as I sat here typing this review, there could potentially be hundreds, even thousands of dangerous and threatening stories being swept under the rug for fear off exposure. In that alone, this is a film well worth watching.
(4 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and drug content)
                             

The Guest Review

What's wrong with this picture?---Dan Stevens as a mysterious man claiming to be an old war buddy of a welcoming family's deceased son in The Guest
                                                    The Guest is the greatest spectacle of film making anyone will see this year, and perhaps ever. It is a throwback to a different era of film that is so bad ass, so invigorating, so suspenseful, so edge of your seat and so damn entertaining that it's almost hard to think a film this great could still be made. It's not surprising to report that the film comes courtesy of director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett,  the team behind last year's stunning horror flick You're Next. As they did in that film, here they combine two seemingly impossible to mix, completely tired genres and bash them together in a way that would not be expected of anyone walking into the theater. In You're Next, they combined the standard home invasion thriller and the dysfunctional family comedy (it's a great combo even though it suggests The Strangers meets Four Christmases.) Here, Wingard and Barrett take the "you never know who's under your own roof" thriller and the conspiracy thriller genres and make a combination so incredible that it literally sent me into a state of shock leaving the auditorium. A lot of the film's success is due to star Dan Stevens, however, who takes an easily tedious and unbelievable characters and plays both ends of the spectrum exceptionally well.

                                                 Stevens plays David, a man who mysteriously shows up on the doorstep of the Peterson household. Their son has died in service and David claims to have been on his squad and says they were really close. Mother Laura (Sheila Kelley) buys into it, if not just to have a memory of her son. However, daughter Anna (Maika Monroe,) son Luke (Brendan Meyer) and father Spencer (Leland Orser) are much more skeptical. They wonder why this man just decided to come to their home out of nowhere. Couldn't he have called to see if it was alright? Why did their son never mention this man? That all changes, however, when David proves to be a compassionate and fun friend to all of them. I choose to end the synopsis here because the less one knows going into this film, the more incredible of a ride it will prove to be.

                                                 This is the kind of film that revels in the idea that the audience will be nervous about what will happen next. Another great thriller from this year, Enemy, did this almost as well. This film works brilliantly at keeping the audience on edge about why David is there and what his end goal is. Stevens manages to play David with an increasingly large amount of coolness and relaxation, which makes the suspicious aspect of his visit even more effective. He never tries hard to be cool, which makes the end product of his ease and swagger something of a miracle.

                                                 The supporting cast is also great, creating characters that are shockingly sympathetic. These characters are not just people who are there to run around and scream. Rather, these are actually people with jobs, aspirations and lives. While the end may leave some cold due to the current nature of the characters, it is no doubt a fascinating conclusion to behold. The film makes use of its setting, as well. Not only does the middle of nowhere dwelling make the ambiguous nature of David more thrilling but such settings as a pre-Halloween dance decorated gymnasium and an off the beaten path bar are used to great effect.

                                                  The Guest will certainly not be for everyone. Its concept may be too broad and loosely threaded for some while others may find the nervousness that comes from watching Stevens too much to handle. However, it is an exceptional piece of film making for anyone looking for a classic throwback to horror films from the 80's that directors and screenwriters seem incapable of producing any more. In other words, if you think you're excited to see this film, then by all means see it.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for strong violence, language, some drug use and a scene of sexuality)

The Zero Theorem Review

In need of a reality check today?-----Christoph Waltz as a computer hacker being slowly driven insane by the meaning of existence in The Zero Theorem
                                                  Here is a rare complaint to have for a film---it relies too much on its own cool nature. It should be noted that The Zero Theorem is perhaps the only film I have ever had and will ever have this complaint about. I suppose it's the most appropriate film to have this complaint about seeing as it's Terry Gilliam's latest film. Outside of the Monty Python films he has directed, I have never actually loved a film of his. I have highly respected and immensely enjoyed such films as Twelve Monkeys, Brazil and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas but they've also irritated me in the process. He too often feels like a man who's too wrapped up in the process of being cool to actually focus on other elements that would improve his work immensely. He's the equivalent of the high school star football player that everyone loves who gets very, very, very mediocre grades. I admittedly do understand the getting wrapped up in coolness factor of this one perhaps more than others. After all, it does star the already legendary Christoph Waltz and has an exceedingly kooky and wholly creative premise. However, those things can only last so long (maybe Waltz's legendary pull can last forever but the premise, not so much.) This is a film that will certainly only speak to a certain few. I can't decide whether I want to put myself in that group or not. Most people will hate this film due to its story that is, mostly, intentionally hard to follow. One minute a premise will be introduced but the next there won't even be a hint of what happened for the last 60 seconds. This may be a tactic that Gilliam is using since the film is about a man desperately searching for the meaning of existence and being contradicted by one thing or another every step of the way. However, most people will just find it pretentious and tedious, or so I imagine.

                                              The film stars Waltz as Qohen, a worker bee in one of those futuristic societies that's actually a metaphor for our society today. Other films that have this kind of future society can be seen in would be the classic 1982 film Blade Runner, this year's Snowpiercer and a few hundred films from those 32 years in between. This is not to say this is an awful concept. The two other films that I have mentioned are both fantastic and stick with you long after you leave the theater. However, it's a tricky concept to maneuver if the writer(s) and director(s) don't have every idea in their head predetermined. There has to be a specific reason that the people involved in this kind of film are making it. Usually these types of films are love it or hate it. I suppose this one will be for most people as well but I'm fairly on the fence about my feelings for this one.

                                               The plot? Oh yeah....I forgot to explain that. Qohen is tired of working day to day at his dead end futuristic job and decides to rebel against the highest power (I know that sounds familiar to anyone reading this as well.) However, when Qohen does this, he's assigned to a job in which he has to try to make these millions of cubes fit with one another and thus prove an idea named The Zero Theorem, which states that life has no purpose and everyone lives and dies and there's no reason for them to do so. Of course, in order to prove this, Qohen has to consistently almost but not quite figure out the idea of the cubes. A computer will tell him "0 equals 96.79 percent and 0 must equal 100 percent," and so on and so forth. The plot goes further, with a sexy, bubbly blonde (Melanie Thierry) who proves a temptation for Qohen and an annoying but helpful teen (Lucas Hedges.) I choose not to really go into the actual plot because part of the intrigue of the film is where it's headed and why.

                                            Gilliam is exactly like Lars Von Trier to me. I don't like Von Trier's film per say but I totally respect his approach to simply making what he wants to make and the audacity to make everyone watching the film furious when all is said and done. Giliam does the same with his films, including this one. The ending seems to wrap things up nicely but is rather a disguise for just how little the film and all its events ending up meaning. Waltz is incredible in a role that requires a lot of effort to pull off. This is a blank slate of a man who must be made sympathetic in order to be interesting. Faults does this with perfect ease. Waltz is very similar to Christopher Walken in that he is inherently fascinating because no one can match the type of presence that he has on screen. He continues that here and is mostly why a fair amount of the film actually works. Get someone else in his role and every single part of this film falls to pieces.

                                              First time screenwriter Pat Rushin brings a certain energy to the dialogue and situation. However, he seems more invested in the idea of this world than actually giving any of the characters any kind of, well, character. For example, Tilda Swinton shows up, seemingly just having walked off the set of Snowpiercer, as a goofy "woman" (she's actually a computer program) who serves as an overly nosy therapist to Qohen. This is a very cool and potentially great idea and while it does work to some degree, Rushin is too obsessed with the sheer bizarre nature of the character. It is never explained what her motives are or why she's even there. This happens consistently during the film. Characters that could potentially be a great counterpart for Qohen show up but are given absolutely nothing to do beside be wacky. Even the blonde and the teen, who are both on screen a lot, are just people who are there for no real reason and with no real motivation driving them. Come to think of it, Qohen is also a meaningless, non-driven character but he works simply because Waltz is so great and gives the character significantly more depth and meaning than was written for him.

                                           As you may be able to tell at this point, I don't really know my own feelings for this film. Sure, it's kind of inventive and somewhat enjoyable but it's also a shallow project with no real payoff. I feel as if this is a film that will reach cult status but more in the way that something out of Troma does than in the manner that Brazil did. I can not stress enough how incredible Waltz is but a line must be drawn somewhere between what's a good film and a film that's just a flash in the pan. This film goes across the line to just  a flash in the pan but only by  a nose. I can't say I hated it and I may even watch it again in a few years and get more out of it. However, I must say that, as of now, this is a film for anyone who wants some nice visual imagery and a great performance but who don't care if there's any purpose to what they're watching. I am not one of those people.
(2 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language and some sexuality/nudity)

Tusk Review

Animal instincts---Justin Long as a successful internet entertainer who falls victim to an evil man deep in the mountains in Tusk
                                  I guess the highest praise I can give to the new Kevin Smith horror-comedy Tusk is that there's never been anything like it. Then again, there's nothing been anything like a film where a guy gets his legs forcibly shoved down his throat yet either and I don't think I'd pay money to see that. The problem with this film is that writer-director Smith (who took it from one of his Smodcasts) constantly confuses vomit inducing and disturbing for scary. The horror element of this film is the equivalent of someone taking a bunch of dirt and putting it inside a giant open wound of theirs right in front of you. It's not scary...it's unnecessarily disgusting. For that matter, some of the comedy parts are alright but most of them give the audience a "you had to have been there" vibe. Those are mostly the equivalent of a bunch of frat boys making loud noises and laughing because only they get what the loud noises signify.

                                     The film stars Justin Long as Wallace, a horrible human being (although it takes all too long to figure that out) who runs a successful podcast with Teddy (Haley Joel Osment.) The idea of the show: Wallace goes to visit weird people to see and hear their bizarre lives first hand. Upon returning, he tells Teddy all about it and sees Teddy's reaction. One day, Wallace travels up to Canada and discovers that, for various reasons, his trip was a flop and he has no show. That is, until he discovers a  flyer promising fascinating tales. This prompts him to go into the middle of nowhere and talk to Howard (Michael Parks,) an old man with a very smart, suave Hannibal Lecter vibe. Wallace then discovers that Howard is very bad news which prompts Teddy and Wallace's girlfriend, Ally (Genesis Rodriguez) to look for him.

                                         Right down the line, the acting is great in this film. Long, Osment and Rodriguez are all terrific, giving their characters a sense of being and life that easily could have been lost in translation. Parks is the stand out, however, giving a performance that recalls the days of Vincent Price and Bela Lugosi. However, this is one boring film. There's a great horror film in this premise but then the first 20 minutes were up and I was just bored. If Smith were to have made this a short film that would be released as a bonus feature on one of his Special Edition DVD's and Blu Rays, this would probably be great. However, it keeps going and going and going. There's even a small surprise role by a well known celebrity. This is a celebrity I've soured on quite a bit over the years but they're very funny in it. However, they're funny in a way that doesn't fit the film at all. The film, at that point, has already established itself as a disturbing, dark film and then this character comes on screen giving the impression that they just came out of The Naked Gun 4 and 1/4. 

                                            Between Red State, Jersey Girl and Cop Out, Smith has certainly proven that he's not the quality writer or director he was back in the Dogma-Clerks-Chasing Amy-Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back days. Chalk Tusk up as another one of his failures. It's not completely awful, mostly due to the terrific acting and the hints of a good idea about the similarities and differences between man and animal. However, Smith has much too hard of a time finding the right tone and the film ends up being mostly a depressing, boring, impossible to swallow mess. If you sit through the whole film, you may begin to feel just as tortured and lifeless as Wallace.
(1 and 1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for some disturbing violence/gore, language and sexual content)

God Help The Girl Review

Let the music take you away------Emily Browning as an anorexic, troubled young woman and Olly Alexander as a likable musician who befriends her in God Help The Girl
                                       There should be a term for a film that tries so hard to be reminiscent of many different other things that it ends up not finding a voice of its own. I'm sure there is and I would use that term to describe God Help The Girl if I knew what it was. This is a film that seems to have aspirations of being similar to a Wes Anderson film, a John Carney film, a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical and a Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman love story, just to name a few. This is not to say this is a particularly bad film. It's not like it tries to rip off any of these films. It obviously has respect for all these films and pays homage to them but also proves there is such a thing as too much homage. There is some genuinely good stuff within the film but by the time the film hit 90 minutes when it could have wrapped up in 80, my patience was wearing extremely thin.

                                      Written and directed by Stuart Murdoch (of Belle & Sebastian,) the film follows Eve (Emily Browning,) an anorexic and troubled young woman who is living in a health clinic to get her back to a normal weight. Eve escapes from the clinic one night and into a club where James (Olly Alexander) is quitting his neglectful and unappreciative band. James and Eve make sure the other is alright at the club following James's fight with the band only to run into each other again. Soon, James discovers Eve has quite the set of pipes on her and they start a band. Brought into the band is a music student of James named Cassie (Hannah Murray.)

                                       This film is very much a musical but there's not nearly enough of that. Whenever the songs are being performed, the film is bubbly and about as enjoyable as it can be. However, these songs are too far in between and the stuff without them too often feels like a chore to sit through. Browning and Murray are both terrific, showing two sides of a very troubled coin and making their characters work as foils for one another. The stand out here, however, is Alexander,  who makes the character of James much more interesting and likable than is written. He brings a liveliness to the performance that boosts the film's entertainment value up quite significantly.

                                        The problem is that the script too often makes these characters not do anything. Eve is dating a scummy guy (Pierre Boulanger) who is only using her for her body. The question then is why is she letting him do this? The audience never gets an answer or even a hint of one which makes that plot completely unnecessary. Meanwhile, James is desperately falling for Eve. The best song in the film even involves a fantasy that James has about Eve in the bathtub. James is not a particularly wimpy or shy fellow so why doesn't he just let her know his feelings? No answer there, either. Cassie too often feels like she's mostly just there to be a third band member. Her character isn't given much life or meaning beyond being a part of the band. Then come the  last 30 minutes, which go on for way too long and eventually become mind numbing. By the time the film concluded, I could not care less what happens to any of these characters..I just wanted to leave the auditorium.

                                     While I can not dismiss there is some enjoyable stuff here, God Help The Girl is mostly just a long slog through a wasteland of cinematic cliches. Murdoch has proven he has extreme talent via his work in Belle & Sebastian and no doubt could make a fascinating film one day. It's just a matter of him finding coherence and originality within the film.
(1 out of 5 Stars, The film is Not Rated)

The November Man Review

Protege problems---Pierce Brosnan as an ex-CIA operative and Luke Bracey as his protege turned rival in The November Man

                                         I'm almost always happy to have seen a film no matter how horrible it is. Despite some insanely harsh reviews that I write, 99.9% of the films I bash I was more than happy to sit through no matter how much I was bored or angry at the film. Rarely do I walk out of a film wishing I had never sat through it and having words such as "off putting" and "grossly offensive" running through my head. The November Man does the trick of making me wish I had never seen it. On top of the words I have just mentioned above, there are a few more choice words I had for this garbage that I choose not to write in this review for reasons of wanting to stay professional. I hesitate to even call this film making. It's more like bits and pieces of half baked ideas that were lazily cobbled together. This is especially disappointing to report since director Roger Donaldson (who did the fantastic films No Way Out, Cadillac Man, The Getaway and The Bank Job as well as many other very solid ones) and stars Pierce Brosnan and Olga Kurylenko should know better. 

                                        The film stars Brosnan as Devereaux, a CIA operative who gets out of the game but gets called in for one last job. His protege, Mason (Luke Bracey) is now his rival after one of those cliche botched job openings. All the while, Russians are evil or something. Honestly, I don't remember any of this plot because I successfully forgot about this film until I wrote this review and also because the plot is overly convoluted for being so stupid. 

                                      Co-writers Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek (taken from a work by Bill Granger, which is surely better than this film because getting stabbed repeatedly would be much more pleasurable than sitting through this) should be ashamed of themselves for being involved in this insult of a film. Everyone should be. This is a disgusting, mean spirited film that insults the audience and treats them as if they just want to see gruesome violence. I'm not that squeamish when it comes to gruesome violence. However, if I am going to watch this level of gruesomeness, I need some reason to. Donaldson should have taken a look at directors like Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie, who use violence not simply to be put into a film but to progress the story and support their ideas. 

                                    The performances are terrible down the line. Brosnan and Kurylenko, talented as they are, obviously don't care and just sleepwalk through the entire film. Bracey isn't acting so much as impersonating a mannequin. His performance mainly consists of saying one word every 15 minutes or so in a really boring fashion. There's even a subplot involving a woman who lives in the apartment across the hall from him. Her cat keeps going into his apartment and soon she falls for him. Why the cat or the woman would ever want to spend a second with a guy so devoid of life is beyond comprehension. Every beat, twist, plot device and anything else in this film can be seen coming from miles away. In other words, just look at the poster for five seconds and you've got the entire film. This will be beneficial because looking at the poster would be significantly more exciting and less time consuming.

                                    The November Man is a gross, insulting bore in all the most jaw dropping ways possible. This is not a film so much as a test to see how pathetic a film can get before people start walking out in droves. I stayed for the whole thing and want the two hours of my life back desperately. I implore my readers since I appreciate all of you---don't make the same mistake.

(0 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for strong violence including a sexual assault, language, sexuality/nudity and brief drug use)

Love Is Strange Review

When the going gets tough---John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a long time couple whose relationship faces many struggles after a long awaited marriage in Love Is Strange
                                         In one of the essays of his book "Autumn Leaves," world renowned French author Andre Gide states "It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not." The new film from director Ira Sachs and co-writers Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, Love Is Strange knows just how accurate this quote is and makes the argument with great depth and sadness. This is a film that is beautiful, sad, stunning, endearing, funny, uplifting, heartbreaking and extremely warm and comforting all in one fell swoop. It doesn't exactly hurt that Sachs manages to get two Oscar-worthy performances out of leads John Lithgow and Alfred Molina. Lithgow especially does career defining work here. As an actor who has a tendency to take things to extremes, he nicely underplays his role such that just one look of his draws large amounts of sympathy.


                                        Lithgow and Molina play Ben and George, a couple who have been together 39 years and finally tie the knot. They are dedicated to one another unconditionally. It's one of those great relationships, whether it be in real life or in film, where if one falls, so does the other. After tying the knot, Ben and George experience an abundance of hardships. George gets fired from his job as a music teacher at a Catholic school. This happens despite the fact that both the students and parents know he is openly homosexual and think he's an excellent teacher. This leads to Ben and George having to move from their home. Ben has to go live with nephew Elliott (Darren E. Burrows), his wife, Kate (Marisa Tomei) and their teenage son Joey (Charlie Tahan.) George moves in with a younger homosexual couple, cops Ted (Cheyenne Jackson) and Roberto (Manny Perez.) Things only fall apart from here but I'll let you, the reader, see this wonderful film to find out how.


                                      One of the strongest aspects of this film is how Lithgow and Molina are both so comfortable and easy with one another that the audience actually buys they're long-time partners. I forgot I was watching two great actors and believed I was watching a real couple. These are two performances that should be studied for hours on end by aspiring actors to see just what to do when it comes to having chemistry with a fellow performer. The screenplay is also brilliantly written when it comes to these two men. Ben and George are both portrayed as very nice, well meaning men but both also have their flaws and don't always do the right thing. This makes the scenes in which they're struggling all the more effective. I felt for these men and wanted to see them triumph in their relationship.


                                         That can actually be said for everyone in this film. No character here is evil but they all have their problems and aren't at all perfect. This, along with the ordinariness of the events that take place, give the film a very realistic, true to life feel. It's also a great sight to see a film about a homosexual couple that doesn't put any emphasis on that fact. There are no characters who are against their relationship. Even the Catholic school principal (John Cullum) has nothing against it. Place a man and a woman in this same film and it would not make any difference. There's also a subplot about how Joey might be in the closet due to the fact that his only friend is Vlad (Eric Tabach,) an older boy with whom he spends a suspicious amount of time with. This subplot is very tastefully done and even avoids really bringing up the suspicion about Joey.


                                      The whole film is tasteful, though and so much more. I dare anyone to walk out of the auditorium with dry eyes by the time the end credits start rolling. This is a film built on the sympathy the audience feels for these two leads and Sachs and Zacharias do an excellent job of making even the most cold and cynical soul feel bad for these two throughout the film. Credit for that also goes to Lithgow and Molina, whose performances rise to a level of excellence that I can't even properly convey with words. Love Is Strange is an amazing, unforgettable and life changing film that everyone should experience at least once.

(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for language)
**Note: How dare the MPAA, with whom I constantly add these notes against, give this film an R rating. This is the kind of film that could change young people's lives and give them a new perspective on the world but the unfair rating might prevent them from experiencing it. The film is rated R for "Language" and yet I only heard two F-bombs and no other even slightly bad language in the entire film. The MPAA claims that their standard as far as an R for language goes is at least 3 F-bombs. It's weird to think that PG-13 films such as Scary Movie 5 and Transformers have more language, sexual themes, hardcore violence, ETC than this film. The MPAA should be ashamed of themselves for this decision but I guess considering they make stupid calls like this everyday, they're used to it by now.