Jackie & Ryan
Jackie & Ryan
PG-13 | 03 July 2015 (USA)
Jackie & Ryan Trailers

A modern day train hopper fighting to be a successful musician and a single mom battling to maintain custody of her daughter defy their circumstances by coming together in a relationship that may change each others lives forever.

Reviews
Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Tuchergson Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater
Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.
Mary I can't say that I liked this movie. The philosophy of the creators seemed way too superficial to me: live your life from moment to moment, don't worry about the past only look to the future, and blame "the system" for everything. The underlying commentary on how poor struggling people are exploited and crushed by the system is recurrent : Ryan's friend "the Cowboy" has just had a baby with Virginia, who he abandons for a couple of days, just to "breathe a little" : he got angry and frustrated after the baby was born because there was not enough money (he felt small and powerless in front of something so much bigger than him, says Virginia, the mother of his child, who justifies his frustration). The song "Down on Penny's Farm" that Ryan and Jackie sing at various occasions (Jackie chooses this particular song to express her frustration about her rich husband threatening to claim full custody of her daughter) is clearly a song about exploitation. And Jackie has to sell all her jewelry and her house in order to fight her very rich husband whose money allow him to do whatever he wants. So the rich do what they want and crush down poor people- that's the theme of the movie. Somehow it's not convincing. Especially when the characters are not people who never had a choice or a chance in life, but independent, strong, talented and were capable to turn their lives any direction they wanted in many occasions in their past.Apart from blaming the system, the characters do not seem willing to reflect on the consequences of their own choices, and that is presented by the filmmakers as something rather positive. Jackie is tormented by questions about past choices, but Ryan convinces her she should only ask "where do I want to go next and how will I get there". Virginia never asks herself if they should have made sure they had enough money to raise the baby before having it.. There's no need to reflect on the past, or draw lessons from past experiences, because it's all the system's fault.... I really didn't like this irresponsible, adolescent approach to life. Live your life moment to moment and blame others for exploiting and crushing you... I'm not saying that people should punish themselves for their irresponsible past choices, but realizing how you contributed to finding yourself in your present situation can be useful. Plus, reflecting on the past does not exclude working on building the future. You can do both ! But as an adult, you need to realize which choices worked and which didn't. Because in real life there are no miraculous solutions, as in this film. You don't just open the door to a stranger one day during a stressful divorce and fall madly in love with them, you don't get the super expensive guitar you're dreaming of as a gift from someone who wants nothing back, etc. Apart from defending irresponsibility and anger towards the rich and powerful, what this film also promotes is a belief in miraculous solutions that set everything straight out of the blue. Some sort of "deus ex machina" appears out of nowhere to deliver the characters and not their own wisdom and efforts based on lessons from past experience. If only it were so in real life....
inquiringminds How sad this sweet little film by Ami Canaan Mann was ignored by the public. It's on Netflix & I finally got to see it & really liked it. Ben & Katie were excellent together & I was pleasantly surprised by Ben's singing. The only thing I didn't like was I felt it was too short & a little more about their back stories could have been in it, plus the ending was too abrupt for my taste. But that's in editing & not the fault of the actors. If you like music & drama, you will really appreciate this film.
Caroline I am not even half way through this movie. Very slow. Terribly boring. There is no excitement, no twist, no surprise, no thrill. Nothing much to this film. Total waste of time. The slowness and speed, the conversations between the actors are boring. The little bit of singing and music is alright. As the movie progresses I have only one desire that is to turn it off and look for something good. Clearly this is a bad one. It is suppose to be a romantic movie but there is little about that part too. This is probably one of the worst movie I have allowed myself to watch this long. Nothing about that movie or in that movie makes the viewer wish to keep watching. I was checking the reviews online and saw that it was rated a 3 star. I thought it was out of 5 stars. This is why I decided to watch it. Out of 5 it is a 1.
Fly Sky Nice simple story where a a drifter/musician meets a single mom struggling to leave her former life. both need to make some difficult life choices on how to move forward.it is well acted by barnes and heigl and a strong supporting cast. not great singing voices by the leads, but they aren't suppose to be highly successful musicians, so it is OK. movie is pleasant enough to watch and director ami mann gives us a strong sense of place (Utah rural community, folks just getting by, folks wanting to leave to make it somewhere else and end up coming back after). She manages a consistently smooth, non-sentimental, indie tone to the film.