Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

DJ-Ren I realize that Thomas Jane didn't write or direct this project BUT everything I've ever seen him in has been great. This is one of those movies that, if made today, would begin by getting Kickstarter(or an equivalent). Before that, however, a person(s) that deeeply wanted a film made would do things like getting "well- off" people in the film industry to contribute money (Spike Lee did this by hitting up 10 rich black people, such as Will Smith and Magic Jordan, for a million each; Jason Patrick did "Speed 2" for the sole purpose of getting enough money and "Hollywood big-shots attention" to get "Narc" and "Your Friends and Neighbors" made. (Both frickin' AMAZING films, BTW). Sorry, not concentrating on movie. OK, basically 4 20-year old men (I already warned you about spoilers, but here come big ones) on the cusp of success make a pact that they'll meet back at a cabin when they're 40. If life is not as grand as they thought it would be, they'd all kill themselves. If you are a 40-ish male who hasn't reached the heights that you planned out when you were 20, just watch it with lots of bright lights on, preferably WITH friend(s) (m or f), do not be (or get) drunk/stoned while watching, and make sure that all sharp objects are wayyy out of reach. BUT WATCH IT!

NateWatchesCoolMovies I Melt With You is an easy film to dismiss as crass, unnecessary nihilism. It's easy to look at the four wealthy, healthy main characters and scoff at the idea that they are in any kind of turmoil or crisis, and patronize them for going to the staggering lengths of excess portrayed in this film. Take a second. Empathize. Everyone, rich or poor, healthy or terminal, is going through their own private hell in some way, shape or form. These four guys, meeting together for a week long getaway to gorgeous Big Sur, are manically stoked to be together and appear outwardly happy in their revelry. But as the days pass, we see this is just not the case. Thomas Jane plays the failed writer turned schoolteacher who is at the end of his rope. Jane displays here that he's got more going on than just the strong hero type, showing a sadsack depression and wicked energy in his scenes. Jeremy Piven brings his usual spitfire, hopped up parade of mannerisms, and they click wonderfully with the writing and direction as a hedge fund prize boy who has embezzled money and is on the guilt train straight to insanity. Rob Lowe surprised the crap out of me, as I was never a huge fan. But here he shows stinging vulnerability and an utter, soul sucking sadness as the pill popping MD who's in dire straights for peddling wares outside the boundaries of prescription, as well as living with a broken family and kids he can't see through no fault but his own. Christian McKay, who I've never heard of before this, just owns his role as the fourth, a sensitive, guilt ridden and deeply troubled man who was responsible for the death of his boyfriend many years ago, and is clearly not okay about it even years later. The four of them descend into a chaotic cacophony of extreme drug and alcohol abuse, everything from coke to downers, tranqs, and every other substance you can think of is consumed in this film. The scenes of excessive consumption are hard to watch, but also have a go for broke, kamikaze approach to them, set to one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. Seriously, I could list the 100+ amazing songs that show up throughout, and I'd still be missing some. The film progresses to some really dark, unsettling places, involving a pact the four of them made 25 years before, and the ramifications of where their self disappointed lives have ended up. It's easy to watch this and hate it, to be bombarded with its sensory overload of various gimmicks, unconventional styles and brutal onslaught of despair and self loathing. It's much harder to try and put yourself in these guy's shoes and imagine what it might be like for them. Each one, personally as an individual, to truly not be right in your soul, and what that might look like bursting out into one's life. Kudos to Mark Pellington for undertaking such a brave, unique venture. Indeed in the last five years it's truly like no other film I've seen, with an energy and operatic stream of consciousness all its own. Oh and the cinematography. It's a breathtaking one to look at, some of the images like pure silver and gold distilled into cinema. Between the beaches, wide amber sunsets the same colour as the whiskey in their glasses, to the sand dunes that stretch into the beyond, endless and desolate like their collective psyches, it's a wicked looking movie. I'm almost reminded of Stephen King in a way, like if the kids from Stand By Me or Dreamcatcher grew up to be in some kind of nightmare sequel. There's great supporting work too, from porn star Sasha Grey as an enigmatic local prostitute, Carla Gugino as an inquisitive local cop, and the excellent Tom Bower as a heartbroken fishing vessel captain. This one isn't for everyone. But anyone open to pure excess, emotional destruction, beautiful scenery and the best soundtrack in a while needs to watch this.

The_Film_Cricket Mark Pellington's I Melt With You is a miserable experience. Here is a dark, dreary, morose film that takes four potentially interesting characters, soaks them in booze, drugs and self-pity and then drags us through a second act that throws them off the proverbial cliff. If we cared about these characters at all it might mean something, but they are such loathsome and self-pitying losers that we long to get away from them. The last hour of this picture is one of the most depressing experiences you'll ever have.The set-up seems to promise a much better story. We meet four guys in their mid-forties, all suffering some form of mid-life crisis. They get together at a large California mansion for an annual reunion that will last five days; this is a week that will include fishing, swimming in the ocean, partying and some inevitable male bonding. The bonding is a necessary agent to what is going on in their individual personal lives. Richard (Thomas Jane), is a school teacher whose dreams of becoming a novelist have blown away in the wind. Jonathan (Rob Lowe) is a doctor whose marriage has imploded, leaving him at a distance from his kids. Ron (Jeremy Piven) has some financial indiscretions that are waiting for him back home. And there's Tim (Christopher McKay) who is suffering the burden of guilt of a tragedy from his past.It is more or less telegraphed that all of these problems will come to a head. That's okay, but it might have seemed easier to sit through if the guys weren't constantly ingesting mounds and mounds of drugs. I'm not talking about marijuana, these guys take the hard stuff: cocaine, pills, heroine and gallons of booze. Their front living room table is covered in the stuff. They are high for nearly the entire length of the picture. They take so many drugs so often and spend so much time in a drug-induced haze that you are left to wonder how they remain conscious or keep from overdosing. At one point, Jonathan pushes a handful of maybe twenty pills into his mouth and maintains his conscious state. The drugs push one of the friends over the edge and he opts out of his misery the hard way. That opens the second half of the movie wherein misery, grief, self-pity and a long-dormant suicide pact are called into question, and what do think the odds are that they are going to make good on that very suicide pact.Pellington's visual style is to twist and turn the camera so that we feel the nausea of the drugs and of the inner-turmoil, but all it does it wear us out. That wouldn't be so bad if we cared one bit about this story. I didn't, and I wanted to get as far away from these people as I could. In fact, I wanted to get as far away from Pellington's movie as I could. Looking over his list of credits, after sitting through this and his previous efforts like Arlington Road and The Mothman Prophecies, I almost don't want to open anymore gifts from him.I guess some may see this as a contemporary statement on the state of the lost and wrecked lives of many middle-aged contemporary men. To be very honest, I don't know any contemporary men like this, nor would I want to. I understand the burden of having to face your responsibility and your maturity, and I understand the burden of having the face your fears, but this movie makes the pains of life into a blood-soaked vomitorium for which the only cure, the only cure, is suicide.How depressing is I Melt With You? Let me put it this way: I just saw a picture called Melancholia that ends with a rogue planet smashing into the earth and wiping out civilization. Between the two, Melancholia had the more upbeat ending.

The-Plague If I were to write this review imitating Chris Traeger, a character played by Rob Lowe on the show 'Parks and Recreation,' I would undoubtedly start off by saying that this was LITERALLY one of the most disappointing movies I have ever seen (and keep in mind, Chris is normally a beacon of positivity). 'I Melt with You' starts off strong, but after about twenty minutes it hands the baton to the chubby kid and quickly loses pace. Following four middle aged college friends who come together for a weekend of fun, booze, and drugs, 'I Melt with You' had the potential to be a modern 'Return of the Seacacus Seven,' but ended up being closer to the annoying younger brother of 'The Big Chill.' Director Mark Pellington, who is more commonly known for his documentary work, boldly takes a swing and a miss. 'I Melt with You' tackles difficult subject matter including the loss of a family member, depression, and disappointment with one's life, but as they say, "it's all about the execution," After an hour I found myself praying for my own execution. The movie hides behind fancy cinematography and a soundtrack filled with old punk rock favorites, but it might as well be an elephant concealing itself behind a telephone poll. The generational sympathy Pellington is trying to stir up is lost somewhere in the haze a of cocaine induced drunken debauchery.'I Melt with You' is another prime example that good actors alone cannot create good movies, just as the best crew team in the world cannot win a race in a boat riddled with holes. Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, and Rob Lowe all fail to rescue this movie from utter failure. Carla Gugino steps in as a charmingly convincing police officer who would have been a nice addition from the start, but after an hour and twenty minutes of watching the movie fall apart, it is more difficult care than to write it off as total loss. If an insurance company existed to compensate viewers who saw a bad movie I think 'I Melt with You' would quickly put them out of business.