Incannerax
What a waste of my time!!!
Laikals
The greatest movie ever made..!
Curapedi
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Cheryl
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
Wizard-8
I have a sneaking suspicion that writer/director/actor Mars Callahan originally conceived this movie as a stage play - almost the entire movie takes place in one place, for one thing. But the stagy feeling of the enterprise is just a minor quibble compared to the real problems this movie suffers from. The previous user commenter used the word that I would best describe this movie - "exhausting". Everyone talks very quickly, and the editing is so rapid-paced that it makes a Russ Meyer movie look absolutely restrained. It's not just the speed of the words that hurt the movie, however - everyone in the movie comes across as unbelievably crude and obnoxious. No one is sympathetic or even interesting. The only scene in the movie that works is the last one, which is calmly acted and directed enough that it's interesting. Apart from that last scene, the only other praise I can give the movie is that despite its low budget, it is professionally lit and photographed.
infosponge7
I bought this from a bargain bin thinking it would be a light-weight romantic comedy, but oh-my-God, I did not expect what this really was. It was like watching a stage play... by David Mamet or William Inge. The dialog and timing is absolutely impeccable! And the subject matter so real and realistic - no, check that - so much BETTER than real life (we all wish we could be so clever in real life) presented in a realistic manner. Man, I love character pieces like this, but this moves so much faster than most character studies; there is no time to let your mind wander, let alone get bored (think "Noises Off" or "Send me a Tenor"). And the acting is incredible! Spot on. Tight group, able to play off each other extremely well, but I have to say Matthew Lillard is absolutely brilliant!! And Mars Callahan does it all - writing, directing, acting - with such grace it appears effortless. You HAVE to see this movie. F***in' unbelievable!!
Tendayi Chin
I feel with the experience and knowledge I have acquired about good movies that it is my responsibility to steer people away from disgraceful attempts at entertainment. I have watched a number of bad movies, but none have profoundly irritated me as much as What Love Is.First off, the dialogue. It is totally unrealistic. The director wishes to portray these characters as being very smart and witty, but instead it transpires as a poor stage performance on fast forward disguised as a film. And its not that they are too fast to keep up with. They are fast like the blur of a trashy sports car at top speed before it crashes into a restaurant and kills everyone inside. It's a bloody mess.Next off, the characters. They are unlikeable. I don't like them. You won't either. They are very stereotypical, and the fact that they are so consciously aware of their persona does not add to their charm, but just makes the whole performance tiresome. They say and portray nothing interesting and in the rare instances that they do say something, it is totally devoid of normal human portrayal and response that it does not even register, unless you keep pausing the film to think about the truth between the banalities. I can't believe Matthew Lillard, I was very satisfied with his performance in Wicker Park, could not believe it was the same person.Every one of these guys is overacting. I expect this from Cuba Gooden Jr, because he can't act, but not from the rest. They all act like Ace Ventura without the humour. I hate these guys guts so bad that if a nuclear bomb had gone off in the middle of the room after the first thirty minutes, I would have requested that this film get an Oscar. What angers me the most is that the film pretends to be so smart, but the "point" that is trying to be expressed has been done a million times before and a million times better, often with powerful subtlety that keeps the stuff in you head. It tries to be revealing, but just ends up looking dumb.There is a scene with a bunch of women, which tries to be as "smart" as the guy scene, but is unbelievably worse.I had become slightly worried over the years that I was becoming so desensitised by foul language in the media that it perhaps had no effect on me any more. But this film proved that theory wrong. There is too much swearing in this movie. I find it unjustified and offensive.This film is also racist. I'd like to think unconsciously so, with the good guy being black to try and balance the equation. I don't get how the result can be this blatant in modern cinematography, however.I have to give this film a one. There is no other choice. If it wasn't trying so hard and insulting my intelligence, I would gladly give it a four. If the film actually made me smile more than once, I wouldn't have to subtract a point for boredom. If it wasn't so racist, I wouldn't have had to subtract an additional point. This is the worst film I have seen, and I can't even laugh at how bad it is.
Mr Nuff
I don't believe that What Love Is was a play before it was shot as a movie, yet I found it reminiscent of some stage play-turned-films I've seen. The main reasons are that it takes place primarily in one room, the dialog is very fast-paced, and emotions are high from the first moment and rarely drops.In this sense, it's not terribly original. What's more is that the small plot line is pretty predictable. However, where this movie shines is in it's advice and the characters' heartfelt monologues. Perhaps it my male bias, but the men's part far outshone and impressed me than the women's scene. Each of the characters reminded me of one of my friends and although it's unlikely these friends would say the things they did, it's something that they would actually believe. For example, Matthew Lilliard's homophobic rant is probably not something he'd say aloud, but you know he would think it. And the other characters react pretty well, continuing the dialog until they each have their turn to chime in with their thoughts on love, sex and women.The second and third acts aren't as good as the first, but there were a few gems that really got me, especially the gay man's sex advice (it's 99.9% correct) and Judy Tylor's (the dumb girl) thoughts on what love really is.So the characters were interesting, the dialog was funny, but mostly it was the gems of wisdom of the characters that really made me think, made me laugh and made me cheer.