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NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

BasicLogic I sat with my wife and watched this wonderful film till past midnight. I want to praise the screenplay writer/director, Cameron Crowe, for a fantastic and unique achievement. Also, the casting agency that had chosen wisely and smartly for all the actors signed up for this film, a real success. Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst, what a great choice to play these two lovely young persons! We totally enjoyed this film, not one moment bored since I never felt sleepy or even yawned once after midnight; a proof how good this film is.

lukeyh This film is a mess. Which I am sad to say as I am a huge fan of the works of Cameron Crowe. How this fits into the Crowe canon, after such gems as Vanilla Sky, Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire, does not sit well with me. It feels more like the muddled work of a filmmaker still honing his craft.The screenplay is muddled and unconvincing. It seems unable to decide whether it wants to be a romantic comedy, an absurd comedy or a black comedy. Despite the best efforts of two very charming lead actors, Kristen Dunst and Orlando Bloom. Dunst's character 'Claire' is less 'charming' and more a terrifying crazy pushy desperate ex-girlfriend type. Bloom's 'Drew' is a beige, muddled, boring, self-absorbed slob.There is a silly, unconvincing premise involving a ridiculous pair of sneakers designed by Bloom's character for his company headed by an eccentric 'Elon Musk' type billionaire played by Alec Baldwin. The sneakers are an epic failure and have cost the company a $1B loss. The sneakers, along with Drew's comical suicide attempt, look as silly as this premise and setup this film poorly from the start.This could have been a heart-felt, warm, funny tale of two lost souls finding meaning through each-other, but it tries to be so many things it ends up failing at all of them.The soundtrack (and Cameron Crowe has such wonderful taste in music, I am as much a fan of his soundtracks as his (other) films) is another example of how messy this film is. 35-different tracks are credited on IMDb it feels like a badly made mix-tape, (which is precisely how most of these songs are incorporated into the script). With some heavy editing from the 2-hour length down to a more palatable 90-minutes it might be a passable film. Cut out Alec Baldwin and Susan Sarandon's distracting and meaningless roles. Cut out Claire's crazy, and try and inject some small semblance of worth into Drew. If either of the main characters were even slightly more likable, the film would be equally more likable.

statuskuo This movie wants you to like it so much. It tries with such great earnest, that you will throw your hands up and just let it have its way. Typical of most Cameron Crowe movies, this is LOADED with expired music hoping you get the references. Also, this may be a record, but it's padded with so many point-of-view from characters that look directly in camera. A lot, even for a Crowe movie.There's something awfully sad about this movie. It has nothing to do with the funeral, and more to do with the underlining psychosis Bloom goes through in his flippant attempt at suicide. Should we be laughing at his contraption? Should we not. Should be be laughing when it's put on hold so he can go learn about his father. Not really. In fact, I felt I knew LESS about the man than coming into it. A MacGuffin...maybe. Anyway, the Dunst character is so overzealous and pushy, to a point where you really sensed her darkness that projects light. I knew women like these. I stayed away from women like these. In any other movie, she'd have an anvil dropped on her. In this one, it seems to be passed off as charming. It's not.Overall, I'd say it was a mid-level movie. It has the basic stuff down, however, missing a lot of fundamentals. Such as story arc. A slight change in demeanor (Bloom's flatline acting needs a shot of adrenaline).This feels too close (on a personal level) for Crowe to remove what may've played well in real- life from a good movie.

SnoopyStyle Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is a shoe designer who is taking all the blame for a $972 million fiasco. The shoe is a joke and he's going to be publicly humiliated. Then he gets the news that his father died. He needs to go to Ketucky to get his body. On the flight there, he meets lovely flight attendant Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst).This is a wonderful near miss from writer/director Cameron Crowe. There are great ideas in this movie, but it gets hampered by very bad fakeness. The first, the most obvious, and the most annoying is the shoe idea. What kind of shoe would cost a company $1 billion? The thing in the movie is a complete miss. It's obviously trying to be quirky, but it has no relationship with reality. Cameron could have used something more real like a car. Shoes are sold by celebrities. Everybody knows this since Jordan. Maybe if it was toxic to wear and people got sick from wearing them. Maybe then it would be more realistic.Once the movie gets to Kentucky, the in-laws are a grab bag. Mostly they are fillers. The movie don't seem to understand this. It spends way too much time with them. On the hand, Susan Sarandon and Judy Greer playing his mother and sister have the right kind of tone. They are a bit of comic relief. And Sarandon has one of the better eulogies.Then we get to Kirsten Dunst. She plays the ingénues perfectly well. Of course, she's the origins of 'The Manic Pixie Dream Girl'. I wouldn't call her manic. She should have been called Magical. It's a movie device.There are also too many montages. I'm not specifically calling out the last part of the movie although it could be shorter. Cameron Crowe would be better off saving some of that for another movie. I'm talking about using music instead of dialog. I'm talking about using snippets of phrases instead of a conversation. The night Drew and Claire talked all night on the phone is probably where they fell in love. It deserves a well written exchange.Cameron is trying for something beautiful and poetic. At times, this movie has that. But it keeps on oscillating between a hit and miss.