Helllins
It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
Melanie Bouvet
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Lela
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Harold Boss
We need movies like this.It really surprised me. The story is a clash of fresh wacky adventures that maybe happened to someone sometime, and a bunch of naff stereotypes borrowed from other movies. The first couple of scenes are jarring. You might need to watch the first ten minutes twice. However once this strange tone is set, the story is consistent. It doesn't deviate from this mode. The story doesn't fall down at any point.Highly recommended.
eryui
All right, this is not a masterpiece, it is a simple, light comedy/thriller at times messy and at time funny and gripping that anyway somehow entertains.Shia LaBeouf acted very well the naive part and he was great. Some moments are moving other bitter and sweet a few just nonsense. The plot is very simple, essentially it is a post adolescent love story in a thrilling contest.Despite the flaws it has some really memorable scenes with a nice soundtrack. I am writing this review because I found it, although faulty also touching and sweet as comedy, with some exciting moments but I was about to skip it for the low rating and I am glad I didn't.Some reviewers are too severe, it is not a movie to throw away to me and it should have at least a full encouraging seven for its almost novice director and certainly even more for the great LaBeouf acting.7/10
NateWatchesCoolMovies
I've heard so much bad mojo about Charlie Countryman it pisses me off. For me it's some of the most fun I've had at the movies that year. Experimental? Yes. Choppy? Yes. Perfect? No. Entertaining? Oh hell yes. It's an odd, random film that takes chances and is a bit off the wall, and if that's not your thing then skip her, but it's by no ones standards a bad film. It's just too beautifully made and unique to be written off. Shia Lebeouf plays a young man who's mother has just died. Her ghost (Melissa Leo, perfect as always) tells him to make a sporadic decision, and go to Bucharest. He meets a Romanian man on the plane, who dies next to him. He is ghost as well talks to him, and tells him to deliver a message to his daughter once he lands. He finds the girl, a gorgeous cello player named Evan Rachel Wood, and immediately falls in love. Wood struggles a bit with the accent but is excellent in the role. The only problem with their idealistic romance is her ex boyfriend, a psychopathic gangster Nigel, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Mads shows menace and plays with his spicy dialogue as he plays with poor Shia, like a cat with a ball of yarn. Tensions run high and violence ensues, as it does in these type of stories. I've heard so much hate for this one, including the claim that it's style over substance. Well what's wrong with that? It's made like a music video, and indeed the director got his start with that. If the images, sounds and aesthetic is beautiful to look at and to hear, who cares if it's not the most intellectual treatise or statement on the human condition? High horses, people. For its a kick ass, unique adventure romance story set in a beautiful town with a great cast, wicked writing, and generally just a great time at the movies. Ron Weasley shows up as drug addled tourist, and there's cool work from Vincent D'Onofrio, and a hilarious, perfect cameo from Til Schweiger as well.The soundtrack is great too, with m83 and providing some gorgeous tunes that give the film a huge part of its alluring, lurid atmosphere. If you're not too big on picking movies apart like a Debbie downer and looking for things wrong with them, this is a great piece of entertainment with a solid cast and a supremely stylish vibe. Check it out.
theSachaHall
Have you ever volunteered a response to a raised question and then wished you had just kept quiet and drank your coffee instead? What about suffering a complete mental blank with no hope of a quick recovery? Apparently I haven't learned from the former nor recovered from the latter after seeing Fredrik Bond's debut film CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN.Emboldened by the sixth sense encounter with his recently deceased mother Katie (Melissa Leo) to visit Bucharest, lost soul Charlie Countryman (Shia LaBeouf) embarks on a trip of self-discovery after meeting Romanian taxi driver Victor (Ion Caramitru) mid-flight. Touched by the Grim Reaper before returning home to daughter Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood), Victor instructs Charlie to seek out Gabi and hand her the crazy hat he purchased for her in Chicago. With his improbable encounters and love-at-first-sight with a deadly twist romance with the tortured soul Gabi, Charlie begins to spiral out of control amidst a bevy of interesting characters including pill pusher Luc (James Buckley), wannabe porn star Karl (Rupert Grint), and local gangsters Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen) and Darko (Til Schweiger).Despite the modes of discourse's vacuity, the score is exquisite. From the pianissimo of piano keys to the haunting sounds of Roma music and Moby electronica, it is wonderful to hear Christophe Beck and DeadMono get it right when everything else is so very wrong. Overall, I found the film to be just okay and not worth the price of admission although, I can see it's appeal for very selective audiences. Having said that, dropping THE NECESSARY DEATH from the original film title kind of says it all really.You can catch me at my handle and at The Hollywood News.