Gretchen

I picked up this movie @ a video store in Austin based on the cover. Had to know who this character was! Immediately after watching, I bought it online. My god, this is a perfect movie. The irony of adults acting out teenage insecurities, the anxiety-inducing hilarity of the pacing, jean on jean & patterned turtle necks. Some scenes reminded me of "Welcome to the Dollhouse," like when Gretchen is on the corded phone talking to a boy and her mom is in the kitchen, elated at the sweet idea of a boyfriend for her daughter, completely unsuspecting of the adult nature of the call. The mom, Becky Ann Baker, plays the SAME kind of mom she does in Freaks & Geeks. Warm, understanding, desperate to save her daughter from the pain of adulthood.

I think what this film does so well, what makes it different, is that its just as sad as it is hysterical. I hurt so badly at times in this movie for Gretchen, but that doesn't stop me from pointing & laughing. The settings are also great - the way Gretchen's mother's house feels like a comfortable cage, her father's house feels like a squatter's, the restaurant she temporarily works at is as pathetic seeming as her attempt to fit in there, the "rave" club is as elementary & hopeless as her escape, etc. The character's wardrobes are just fun. I don't know what year we're living in during this movie, but it doesn't matter.

This movie gave me a lot of feelings, more than Gretchen, probably. And it took me days to shake them. I can't wait to see Courtney Davis again in another Steve Collins flick, "You Hurt My Feelings" - I suggested it to be ordered to my local video store.

Great and lovely characters swim through a back drop of ugly dilapidated small town life in this slow burn character study that is touching, funny and poignant.

The film takes it's time to really allow us to see inside the mind of the title character, Gretchen (a charmingly tortured Courtney Davis). The film also boasts a wonderful supporting cast (with Becky Ann Baker who brought wonderful life to the unfairly cancelled Freaks and Geeks years ago) and creatively depressing production design including a fast food joint that God forgot (complete with gurgling nacho cheese machine) and the lamest techno rave ever conceived (at least they sold popcorn for 50 cents).

Great work to everyone involved and congrats on your success.

Gretchen is an attempt at a farce-based dark comedy about a dorky, stuttering, clumsy high school student who is having an extremely difficult time communicating, to say the least. Courtney Davis looks about 10 years too old for the part of Gretchen, who acts about 8 years old, keeps falling for grubby long-haired guys who look like Meat Loaf, are apparently mentally retarded, and who will assuredly ultimately betray her ("do you know what a pattern is, Gretchen?). And then there's dad.

It's The Jerk meets Benny and Joon, with a only a touch of Welcome to the Dollhouse. And it is slow.

Many in the audience found it funny, but many in the audience worked on the film or knew the filmmakers. When a big cheer goes up for the key grip credit, you haven't exactly been hearing an accurate audience reaction to a film.

By the way, I really liked Punch Drunk Love (see other User comment).

This movie is so perfectly realized that I want to kneel down in its presence.

So well written, so well directed, so well shot.

And the cast is incroyable!

Courtney Davis' performance is a masterful physical comedy tour-de-force. An amazing amalgam of the dorkiest girl you ever knew - and an evil hurricane of danger (for those women who dare make out with her man).

I'm afraid to say too much more, because raising expectations for future viewers always screws things up.

But I loved this movie. So gentle. So brilliantly conceived. It builds to an unexpected climax that is completely original, and fantastically realized.

Oh what a movie, what a movie.

Joy joy, joy on earth.

"Gretchen" is a sweet, funny coming of age movie about Gretchen Finkle – the most awkward 17 year old you've ever met. She dresses like she's twelve, hasn't been past second base, and has less than zero self-confidence. She seems to only be attracted to loser guys who treat her terribly, and the movie is about her journey to figure out why that is.

The director walks a fine line between making fun of Gretchen and letting her break your heart, and some people might not get it. I thought the tone was refreshing, and totally different than most "teen" movies (In the end, Gretchen might not become a popular cheerleader or "get the guy", but you still cheer for her all the way.) The actors aren't actually in their teens, however, which is part of what makes it funny. This is a movie made by adults who are looking back on those high school years, and commenting on how over-the-top dramatic everything was. It's funny, and painful.

I watched "Punch Drunk Love" again the other day, and realized that "Gretchen" is much more similar to this movie than to "Napoleon Dynamite" or "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (the two movies that I've seen it often get compared to). Gretchen is like a teenage version of Barry – lonely, scared, and harboring a pent-up rage that comes out in totally the wrong ways (Barry smashes a glass door; Gretchen scratches a classmate in the face). But unlike Barry, Gretchen hasn't yet met the person that's going to help her come out of her shell. We're just dropping in on her painful high school period.

"Gretchen" also has a similar tone to "Punch Drunk Love" (the way it skirts the line between comedy and drama), and there is a similarity in the look of both movies (precise compositions, dead-center framing, or the way the camera will rest for a long painful close up of Gretchen's face). Overall, if you enjoyed "Punch Drunk Love", I think you will probably enjoy "Gretchen".