Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Steve Pulaski The Puffy Chair is often considered to be one of the pioneering films for the mumblecore genre, a style which is often associated with no name actors and a relatively quiet script. To me, mumblecore is a naturalistic approach to topics that could've been taken with unnecessary comedy or a stereotypical, kidding approach, but since they are handled on a modest budget, they are usually taken with admirable gratitude and soul.The Puffy Chair, released in 2005, is a unique picture for the time, but unfortunately an unsatisfying one. It revolves around Josh (Mark Duplass, whose brother, Jay, directed the film), a twentysomething who plans to travel across the country to deliver his father a fluffy, purple reclining chair that he has longed for. He takes the trip with his needy girlfriend, Emily (Katie Aselton) and his impulsive best friend, Rhett (Rhett Wilkins), and along the way, the picture decides to explore the trio's relationship with each other, along with Josh and his parents, and many others.For the first twenty-five minutes or so, the film is poignant, natural, and keenly avoids being indulgent to this idea of mumblecore that it seemingly erected from thin air. But for a directorial debut by the Duplass brothers (Jay serves as the main director, while his brother, Mark is uncredited), you more or less remain optimistic for what their future might hold rather than this picture.To begin with, the characters are rather stale and just tired archetypes. The main character Josh is moderately likable, his girlfriend is very overbearing, and is best friend leaves the viewer very unsympathetic. One of the biggest challenges for this style of film is that you must make everything unassuming and subtle, yet you need to provide the viewer with enough charisma and likability so they can invest valuable emotions through the characters. From someone who has seen three of the brothers' latest efforts, Cyrus, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, and Jeff, Who Lives at Home (all of which have received a positive rating from myself), accomplish this goal successfully, while The Puffy Chair struggles to remain buoyant in a sea of difference. After a while, it resembles something of other road films, and that something is much of a muchness.Now, the performances from the cast are capable, the script is marginally pleasing, and the directing, despite the cloying zoom tactic the brothers would continue using in their films up until present day to sort of forcefully shove style in our face, is efficiently done. It's the story and the overall lack of anything to care about that leaves the viewer empty and rather disinterested.Starring: Mark Duplass, Kate Aselton, and Rhett Wilkins. Directed by: Jay Duplass.

geminiredblue Being a fellow indie filmmaker, I often sympathize with the plight of such a diverse bunch. Not to mention, I can't help but feel a mixture of pride and encouragement. Independent filmmakers are willing to go out there and dare to show things that studios are scared to mention. The essence of an indie film is hard to pin down. But perhaps what indie films do best is show us ourselves, without glamour and pizazz! I first heard about THE PUFFY CHAIR six years ago when Ebert reviewed it on his show. From that day forward, I knew I'd have to track it down. Happily, a year later, I found it and then fell in love with it! At its core, the movie is a road trip undertaken by Josh, his girlfriend Emily, and his younger brother Rhett. However, as the movie progresses, tensions mount between the three as they keep encountering setbacks. What's amazing about the film is that all the situations that the trio encounters could happen in real-life, and most likely have happened. From a cinematographer's viewpoint, the Duplass brothers wisely make use of DV cameras and available lighting. It gives the film an overall sense of immediacy. In many ways, it feels like someone's home videos and that may have been what they were going for. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who wants to see what can be done with a small budget, a couple DV cameras, and three talented actors. This makes my Top 10 Best Indie Films!

hypnotron Smug, pretentious, self indulgent, vapid, inept, boring, mindless, nauseating, technically inept, poorly acted, poorly written, poorly edited, poorly shot. Terrible characters, unrealistic situations, endlessly irritating dialogue, self congratulatory performances.How this film won at Sundance is mind boggling. There is so little in this to suggest talent on the part of the film makers, I honestly cannot see what redeeming features lead this to be shown to anyone other than the friends and family of the cast and crew.When you watch this film you are seeing the power of mediocrity over talent. The ambition of these 'filmmakers' to make movies utterly transcends their ability to actually make a decent movie, thus films like 'The Puffy Chair' are taken seriously, not because they are good, or have anything other than self indulgence to offer, but simply because they got made. It is images, sound and actors and its length that allows this to be classified as a movie.There is no real plot, no charm to any of the situations or characters, the soundtrack is grating. In fact this could be the worst 'movie' I have ever seen...and I sat through the Crow 4 once...

nv-11 I just saw this quirky movie today on cable. At 1st I thought I was watching a documentary the way is was unprofessionally filmed. But I got used to the unsteady camera and its chosen angles. It is a comedy, of sorts, about a road trip with a guy, his girlfriend and his not-so-normal weirdo brother to fetch a nostalgic Lazy-boy chair (won on auction at e-bay) for his father's birthday. Not terribly exciting, very predictable story line so I'm confused about the rave reviews. If you have nothing to do on a dreary Sunday afternoon and live in the Northeast (c'est moi) then watch this movie. I gained nothing from the boring story. Maybe the lesson I learned is buyer beware when purchasing something from e-bay? Watching a movie I like to take away something even just pure pleasure, can't say that about this flick.