Cheatin'

If you have ever watched any of Plympton's shorts you already know that his animation has a distinctive look (hand-painted, pencil-colored, with a predominance of soft and pastels hues), a constant presence of a witty philosophical look at the world, and a strong surreal and whimsical imprint.

Cheatin' tells the story of a romance, from infatuation to real love, marriage, daily expressions of love, jealousy, cheating, and reconciliation with a great insight into the world of romantic love and the intricacies of human relationships, without the need of a word being uttered. Most people with a heart will relate to the way romantic emotions, positive and negative, are depicted in the film, and will like or at least be surprised at finding Plympton's whimsical surreal humorous elements presented in such an approachable and meaningful way.

The film has a strong presence of Opera arias, the lyrics being intrinsically linked to what is being told in the story. So, in a way, this is a modern operetta that pays a homage to the reality of love, that starts as a fantasy and projection onto the other and evolves in ways of relating that aren't always functional or what one expected beforehand.

Cheatin' is a great animated film on all fronts. Plympton's trademark animation and insightful eye are still there, but the narrative and story are very approachable for the general public. I loved the film, didn't find it boring at all.Yet, the movie would have been as good even if it had been 15-20 minutes shorter.

The movie has explicit sex scenes, so not a film for children.

Cheatin' is a bit bizarre, but entertaining nonetheless. It's an animated narrative film that tells the troubled love story of Ella and Jake, which has no dialogue, just grunts and squeals from the animated characters. The two meet at the fair while Jake is on a date with some other broad. As Ella gets crashed into too many times in the bumper car rink, she suffers a crash and almost dies from electrocution. Luckily, Jake is there to save her, and the two are love struck with each other (WARNING: There's a lot of softcore cartoon sex in this movie). Things seem to be going swimmingly, but Jake is just too much of a hunk—he has women throwing themselves (and their clothes) at him left and right. One especially sadistic, redheaded woman leads Ella into a changing room full of male mannequins while she tries on clothes, and snaps a photo of her to make it seem like she was getting a bukkake sesh. The conniving woman drops by the gas station at which Jake works, flirts with him (to the chagrin of her meathead husband), and slips him the photo, which sends him into tears and a mania to get back at Ella … by having sex with everyone woman with a vagina. Once Ella discovers a number in his work shirt, she, too, is bent on revenge. She first tries to put a hit on Jake with the sadistic redhead's husband, but when that falls through, she meets a magician of sorts, who can transfer her into other women's body's and spoil Jake's cheating exploits. Will the two come to terms and understand root of all these unfortunate mistakes? Cheatin' is great for one run though, though it isn't especially riveting. The animation is a great blend of colored-pencil-looking techniques reminiscent of the backdrops of Hey Arnold! (except the characters are animated that way, too), and the characters' bodies get comedically blown out of proportion to add a dash of cartoonish flair. These animation aspects keep the movie's engine running, but it feels too long and would have been more efficient as a short.

After a chance encounter involving bumper cars, Ella, a woman normally engrossed in books, and Jake, a muscular gas station attendant, have sparks fly literally and fall in love. However a misunderstanding engineered by a jealous women creates a rift between the two and Jake starts cheatin'. That is the gist of the story without too much elaboration and no spoilers.

This tale is very beautifully and poetically told with no actual spoken words and portrays the highs and lows of relationships with great depth and much humor. It is not a children's cartoon in either what it shows visually or its themes - that is, it is about things that concern adults, and it is not just about sex.

The pacing is about the best of all the Plympton feature films and the story is quite coherent. The only problem it has, like most of his features, is feeling a bit stretchy about three quarters in but not intolerably so.

There are many rewards to reap from viewing this film, both visually and emotionally and it gets to the heart of the complexity of relationships better than many live action movies. If it weren't for the pacing issues on the last quarter of the film (which aren't as bad as I'm making them sound) I'd give this film a 9 or a 10.

Jake and Ella cross paths in a fleeting movement when their bumper cars run into each other. Thus begins a romance that is totally bliss, but unfortunately because of Jake's insecurities he seeks refuge in the arms of other women. Ella loves Jake so much, that she takes a chance in a 'soul machine' and allows Jake to keep fooling around. An operatic tale, that blends love, passion, and a parade of 'hootchies' I saw this movie as part of the Atlanta Film Festival and the creator Bill Plympton shared how his inspiration was from a page from his life. Pympton met a women and knew she was the one, she moved in and it was a disaster. He utterly grew to hate her but still had the passion to want sex with her. The movie Cheatin' harps on the complexity of human relationships and how sometimes those cheating hearts are not so black and white. Cheatin' is told using the language of dance and song, no words are ever conveyed but the images flow the emotions of this fun and endearing tale.

I saw it as part of the Atlanta film festival

I stumbled across this film during college. I've never seen a film or short of Plympton's before so I went into this with zero expectations. I was horrified and delighted all at once with the animation. The colors and the sounds... wow. It overwhelmed my senses sometimes but overall it maintained a good story. The film speaks for itself honestly. It's sad, yet magical and really made me question if love could survive in such a cruel, jealous world.

Being in a new relationship at the time, the movie certainly struck a nerve. The situation that came about with Jake and Ella's love story was one I never wished upon myself. I cried, in fact. I sometimes relate too closely with movies to the point where they can be too much to bear to watch again. Experiencing this one once more though, with all that's happened in the space between the first viewing and now... it hurts a little less and it's still beautiful.

If you haven't seen it, you should.