Hello Herman

I am such a Norman Reedus fan, so I was very excited to see that he was in a new movie this summer. I may have initially watched Hello Herman out of loyalty to Reedus, but I took away much more than just an increased respect for Reedus as an actor. Michelle Danner blew me away with her exceptional directing that gives us a stark look at the dangers of remaining inactive at quelling violence within our schools and our households. Danner, a renowned Los Angeles acting coach, set out to make this film with endorsements from top Hollywood producers, like Steven Spielberg. From the very beginning it throws you right into the chaos of a town torn apart by the school shootings of a student embittered by perpetual abuse from bullies and personal trauma from home. The film really captures the pain and grief that effects everyone within a town that endures such tragedies. This film will most likely go down as one of the most important and relevant films of 2013

I think the premise of this film is very intriguing, but I think the execution was flawed. The actors were all very well cast and played their roles brilliantly, but I think the script was a bit shoddy in some places and could have benefited from being longer and fleshing out the characters a bit more- the potential was there but the back stories weren't fully utilized. The story could have done with more development as well- it felt a tad rushed in places.

That being said, I think this film is (sadly) very relevant to the world today. It has an important message that needs to be heard, and so far this is one of the only (if not the only) films that touches on this subject matter. It deserves a wider audience because it really does have a lot to say.

I think the film was well cast, with Norman Reedus and Garret Backstrom giving great performances. They really make you care about their characters, which from the premise of the film clearly isn't the easiest thing to do, but that is really the whole point. The script and the direction could have been better, but overall the film succeeds in doing what it set out to do- make you think.

Normally I wouldn't review a movie that I couldn't finish, but I can't let the shill reviews stand. This is a bad movie: badly written, badly acted, and contrived in every element. The quality is lower than a soap opera, the tone is more juvenile than a children's movie, the propaganda is more shameless than North Korean TV. When a movie is so slanted that it makes you question its unfair treatment of child killers and Neo-Nazis something has gone terribly wrong. The subject of school shooters has been handled better in several movies, and this adds nothing, a movie for idiots by idiots. I almost hope that this is some sick satire, it would help me sleep at night knowing that there aren't such demented morons out there, though that wouldn't really change my rating, because then it would just be a very bad joke.

Truth be known- I've only watched this because of Norman Reedus. And because of him it's a 2 star, otherwise zero. I'm so sorry to be so disappointed about this movie. I understand that there must be so much good intentions behind it and it's a big story...but. But what in all saints name were they thinking??? Most people already wrote all you need to know about this movie so I'm not going to repeat that. Just...if you are really still set to watch this movie, then just focus on Reeduses blue eyes and try not to notice everything else. And if your intelligence gets insulted few times...and if basic components that should be holding story together are falling apart...just, you know, thank god they've had decent stylist who blended outfits perfectly with the light ratio. Great job there!

This is a movie that seems to have tried to be many things and falls short in most of it's objectives. The plot seems ripe for an after school movie of the week but the language is quite adult at times. The focus of the movie seems to wander at times, it feels at times the movie is told all in flashbacks and news reports. It also doesn't help that much of the acting is way over the top to near comedic heights next to Reedus' far more understated performance. Technically, the movie is shot well but most of the crew appear to be mailing it in on this one.

One would be far better served seeking out Bully http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682181/ or Elephant http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363589/