A Year and Change

The movie is just plain bad. My GF has been a huge Jamie Chung fan, so her and a six pack convinced me to try and sit through it. First time director movies are usually awesome or horrible..and this movie was not awesome.

A good romance movie is always fun to watch, but this just seems so contrived that is is tough to watch. While the acting isn't bad at all, the direction was all over the place. The movie seems like it was shot with beauty in mind, but completing lacking in story and continuity.

It looks like this is the director's first movie, which he also wrote and produced, so maybe the story was close to his heart, but it really was just an awfully directed and written movie.

LOL - I checked the Rotten tomatoes score and it was 90%, so I'm thinking the Director and his friends/family probably voted themselves.

I don't mean to sound mad at the director, but if you're going to make me waste 90 minutes of my life and night out with my buddies, at least learn your craft.

The concept was interesting and the complexity of the nuances of real life were interesting, but the acting and script seemed a little hallmark-y for the content. A reflection of the fact that it was Casey Affleck's first attempt at directing, it was almost hard to watch because the acting was so unbelievable. It did, however attempt to address personal issues and growth, but could've done a better job.

Always like uplifting human drama. They spoiled this one with the Hollywood required dragging the holy name of JC thru the mud - just one time as is most often the case to symbolize their disdain for pure good.

movylover-94537  (Your review motivated me to watch the movie)

The writer of this movie seems to have been writing from a personal experience or of someone close to him. Sure unlike most of the romantic movies, this one was different. Mainly because it covers all aspects of love.

I mean even before we watch a romantic movie, we already know the ending. Yet this was a total surprise. I like how it displayed self love. Which by the way, most of us lack today.

Owen needed to look for love in himself first before he could be able to find love again. In turn it made him a better father too. His relationship with his ex wife even improved.

As a first time director it's not bad...... I am enjoyed it. Although it was a bit dragged out.

Thank you

You can tell from the start, that the script and the movie itself were very ambitious projects, that must have been dear to the director - but they never truly realized their potential.

As with a lot of movie debuts, this one lacks focus, because the director didn't have the guts to "kill your darlings". So instead of telling a focused story with one genre in mind, the movie turns into a couple of them: First a romance, then a family drama, then overcoming alcoholism, back to romance, then becoming a crime story, then back to family drama, back to another family drama, back to romance, back to a crime story, back to overcoming trauma...and so on. It just tries so heard, to squeeze everything into the 90 minutes it's got.

Also because of that, nothing is ever build up or being foreshadowed, leading to every dramatic action being little more than an unrealistic, forced turn of events.

The result is a tangled mess of stories, where none of the loose threads ever satisfyingly tie into one another.

The actors are really trying their best, but would've needed a lot more direction. And lastly, the lead gives such a wooden performance with just one(!) expression, that I increasingly felt like I was watching an SNL-skit where Kyle Mooney(!) was trying to act sincerely. For real, compare Bryan Greenberg and Kyle Mooney: They look and sound alike A LOT.

I really tried to give this movie a pass because of the premise - but unfortunately, the result is not only a lackluster, but a bad film.

Sorry guys, thanks for trying though.