Teddy Bears

This film is a horrific example of rape culture.

The primary focus is on the emotions and reactions of the male characters, and whether they should "allow" their friend to have sex with their girlfriends, with much less focus on whether the women themselves would actually want to sleep with the creep. The clear implication is that the female characters' decisions are secondary, if they are to have any say in the matter at all.

The fact that this is described as a "comedy" albeit a slightly dark one, is the only laughable thing about it. There's nothing funny about watching a group of over-privileged white men arguing about who should be allowed to have sex with their female property.

Awful.

Despite the outrageous premise, this film offers a nuanced portrait of grief that is disarmingly realistic. Anyone who has suffered a major loss, or struggled with depression, knows that profound grief often begets profoundly twisted thoughts. For anyone who has had the lonely and terrifying experience of watching their relationships unwind as they struggle to cope with these emotions and return to normalcy, this film will strike a chord.

That being said, this film is not as depressing as you might expect. It isn't often that a film explores such dark aspects of humanity without being a major downer, but this one really pulls it off. Because the movie is about grief and its effect on relationships, the characters' friendships are front and center. These friendships are genuine, layered, and heart-warming. One of the things I liked best about these friendships is that there is a noticeable--but not cliché or shallow--difference between the men's friendships and the women's friendships. It isn't often that a film so aptly dances back and forth between male friendships and female friendships without relying on silly or offensive stereotypes. But here is a writer who gets it.

Loved this movie!!!

With a premise/plot as I'll conceived and ridiculous as this it'd take a miracle of direction to make it plausible and enjoyable. Well it doesn't happen and within 15 minutes this film degenerates into absurdly stupid scenarios and mind numbing diss as dialogue. Physically painful to endure. Insulting to women and everyone else with an ounce of sense or decency. Typical self indulgent nonsense from people who think they possess talent.

Teddy Bears is a thoughtful film that takes you on an emotional ride that balances humor, sorrow, love and friendship perfectly.

One reason this film works so well is because unlike so many other movies, there are no useless moments. There is no filler, no fluff. The moments are all needed to give a poignant story its well deserved voice. This is all thanks to the excellent story telling of the writer, Thomas Beatty, who also co-directed with Rebecca Fishman. In short, this is their baby and it is beautiful.

The second reason is the cast. Gillian Jacobs, Zachary Knighton, David Krumholtz, Melanie Lynskey, Ahna O'Reilly and Jason Ritter make the main ensemble. They fit perfectly together. You don't doubt that they are old friends who care and love each other and would do just about anything to help one another. It also doesn't hurt that the supporting cast includes powerhouse Ned Beatty, Dale Dickey and French Stewart.

There is only one drawback about this film. It needs to get wide distribution so I can see it again. This is one film that is well worth your time and it will be one that you will want to watch again and again. It also leaves you reflecting the "what if's" of your friends, family and loves, which in the end is what all great movies do.

Despite its high-concept, almost absurdist premise, The Big Ask is grounded in a very real set of emotions. A man dealing with extreme grief finds himself in need of a tremendous (and unreasonable) outpouring of love. His loved ones are eager to help but feel frustrated and exhausted by just how needy he can be. Anyone who has experienced loss or tried to love someone through loss has dealt with some form of these issues.

The directors elicit commanding performances from their stellar ensemble cast. The film looks great and most of all the script is authentic, funny, and really quite moving. A fine, fine film.