SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Bill Phillips I was tired, flipping from one Amazon Prime movie to another. Watched one on Japanese internment camps for about half an hour. Flipped more and started watching this one though I was about to fall asleep. By golly, stayed up for the entire two more hours.What to say? A situational, hilarious, farce, sexy, mistaken identity comedy. I really didn't know who Marcia Gay Harden was, then I realized I'd seen her in lots of stuff, but, wow, what an actress. And, Leonor Watling, seems I've seen her in something before, but she's the best voluptuous and dumb (and funny) I've seen since Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite.The story line doesn't quit. You think it's over, but it ain't. More stuff and twists just keep happening.

blanche-2 Marcia Gay Hardin is out of this world fabulous in "If I Were You" from 2012.Hardin is Madelyn, a married career woman who finds out her husband is having an affair with a young woman - she spots them at a restaurant. Panicked as her husband leaves the restaurant, she ducks into a store, and so does the girlfriend Lucy (Lenore Watling).Madelyn spots her rival buying a rope and booze, so she follows her home to make sure she isn't committing suicide, which she is. The two talk and become friends, though Madelyn has a hidden agenda. The two make a pact about their men (the same man) - each will tell the other what to do about her problem.Then, by complete accident, Madelyn and Lucy are cast in a production of King Lear, even though Madelyn is not an actress. Madelyn is Lear.I love the story - it's fresh, it's funny; it's also poignant, sad, and inspiring. The acting is terrific. Hardin really carries the film with her comedy coming out as a result of her character's situation. Nothing put on or going for laughs. It's streaming on Netflix. Though it drags a little in the middle, keep with it and whatever you do, don't miss King Lear.

secondtake If I Were You (2012)Be careful—the first twenty minutes of this movie is so bad (or bad seeming) with improbable dialog and kind of "stupid" characters (and maybe inept actors). Or so it all appears. Keep watching. This smooths out quickly, and you get used to the farcical style, so that by the end it all seems normal and pretty fun.The idea is simple, and explained really well in the movie. Two women find they can't make good decisions for themselves, so they agree to make decisions for each other. Big stuff, like whether to date someone, or what to say to end a relationship. And so when a biggie comes up they have to call the other person for instructions.This is tied together brilliantly by a simple first scene (which doesn't give much away, but skip this paragraph if you want the first five minutes of the movie untouched). One woman sees her husband cheating on her with the other (younger) woman. The older woman then sees the younger buy the stuff for a suicide, so follows her to save her. The younger woman thinks this is absolutely beautiful (which it is). And the friendship and the pact are formed.But of course there is this secret lingering, and a husband who calls (and gets calls from) the two women for different reasons.As you can imagine, the complications are hilarious. The other theme that gets going is King Lear, the play, and how the two women get involved with that and why. It's a nice layer that actually doesn't get used very well until near the end when the older woman gives a eulogy quoting the Shakespeare she's been learning. The fellow actors are all terrible on purpose, but they are also thin and clumsy in the movie, especially the director who overacts to distraction. By contrast, our two women play their roles to a kind of comic perfection. The older, played by Marcia Gay Harden, is actually the key protagonist, and is wonderful. Her younger friend, Leonor Watling, is terrific, too, and a perfect complement. Whatever the other outcomes of the movie, you end up hoping these rivals become good friends.

maurice yacowar I was so impressed by If I Were You at the Palm Springs Film Festival that I expected to hear a lot more about it. Alas, it disappeared into the esteemed Lorber DVD ranks, where to our relief and delight it can still be found. It deserves a large-screen rep.Writer/director Joan Carr-Wiggin wrote a brilliant screenplay and directed a richly nuanced cast to bring it to impeccable life. The plot is an inventive symphony of triangles. Madelyn (Marcia Gay Harden) spots her lying husband Paul (Joseph Kell) out with his bimbo mistress Lucy (Leonor Watling). After witnessing their quarrel Madelyn follows the apparently suicidal Lucy to her flat. Though herself heartbroken she consoles the girl and settles into a friendship in which -- at Lucy's suggestion -- each will count on the other to direct them through their present crisis. The girl has lost her lover and the woman seems to have lost her husband, but Lucy doesn't realize Madelyn is her Paul's wife. As Lucy doesn't know who Madelyn is, neither does Madelyn's demented mother. Nor, for that matter, does Paul, who is jealous and indignant when he takes her mysterious calls from Lucy to be from Madelyn's imagined lover. Nor does Madelyn yet realize who Madelyn is. That discovery will come when the business woman and homemaker steps out of her habitual roles and plays -- Queen Lear. The rom-com element takes a sharp turn when Madelyn slips into a new relationship with Derek (Aidan Quinn), whose father died in the same home and at the same time as Madelyn's mother. It begins in the nursing home waiting room in the shadow of death: "When was our last first kiss and did we even know it was our last?" Their relationship blossoms over ice cream in a wintry cemetery. In him she finds an understanding, joy and devotion long gone form her marriage. That cemetery image of rebirth confirms the function of the amateur theatre group's production, where a troupe of well-meaning incompetents are saved by Lucy's dippy Fool and Madelyn's heartfelt Lear -- and the play saves them. The play harnesses Madelyn's emotions and carries her through her heartbreak when Lucy turns against her and wins Paul away. Of course, Lucy understands Lear because she too has been maddened by losing everything she thought she had. Like Lear, Madelyn -- but also Lucy, Paul and Derek -- have grown to understand themselves better as a result of their adversity. For Lucy and Madelyn, the play has illuminated their selves and their lives, by giving them a detached yet engaging perspective on their personal dilemmas. Initially they helped themselves by taking the other's advice, which each developed by pretending to be the other. Then they sank/recovered themselves in their Shakespeare roles. A Lear speech carries Madelyn through her mother's funeral. Taking on a serious role gives Lucy the confidence to leave not just her bimbo life and callow ambition but her illusions about Paul. Both women get a new self-respect from the stage. For more go to www.yacowar.blogspot.com.