The Apology

I watched most of this film or at least tried to. It's an interesting premise I suppose, but it's also not in a lot of ways. The moment the guys (at the very beginning) car "breaks down" and she doesn't question it at all I knew the script wasn't going to be great.

It's basically a play format. A few characters and A LOT of dialogue. The acting is okay, but it just doesn't go anywhere and I personally didn't care about the outcome, the characters or really the whole story.

Overall, I can't give a full review because I got annoyed with all the yelling and arguing and fake tension I just turned it off to watch the Warriors game. We lost the game, but I won by ending the the struggle of watching this film.

The Apology is a dark thriller just released on Shudder starring Anna Gunn & Linus Roache. It has a promising opening and a good tense 30 minutes but ultimately loses itself in the third act.

The film is fine but doesn't really offer much in the way of surprises and the subject matter just kind of plods along. By the end, i was just pretty bored.

Janeane Garofalo improves any movie she's in and has made a career of stealing the movies with the limited screen time she gets. Here, Garofalo doesn't really do much and it's a shame she's wasted so badly.

For a movie of it's kind, The Apology goes nowhere and really, there isn't much point watching. A quick plot summary will tell you all that happens and it never veers from the course. Disappointing.

The Apology is a cheap movie and by that I don't mean just the budget. Sure it is a low budget movie but there are good low budget movies, unfortunately this isn't one of them. The story is very predictable, not well written in my opinion and the execution was just average. The acting wasn't that great either. Linus Roache, I can't say I'm a big fan of his performance, found it a bit bland and not convincing at all. As for Anna Gunn it was just average as well. Never been a big fan of her either. The Apology is the kind of movie I will forget everything about it by tomorrow and that's a good thing.

The subject matter is bleak and depressing, but could have made for a good film (especially seeing as it has been done before).

With Janeane Garofalo as one of the title characters, there was even more of an expectation that the IMDB score of 5.5, was a fluke and/or that reviewers were just missing the point. Say what you will about Garafolo, but she's a powerhouse of acting skills and much more charismatic and attractive than some give her credit for being. Anna Gunn too, was a draw. THE woman who portrayed Skyler White of BB fame SO distastefully well, that the character's name became synonymous with cold, unsupportive wives everywhere, and this was something I could not miss.

Lamentably, after watching it, I kind of wish I had.

Among the worst of the film's foibles is that given the aforementioned talent, surprisingly, the acting from all three leads left a lot to be desired. Most of the interactions between Gunn and Garafolo felt forced and not very organic - almost as if you are watching two strangers working at attempting to form a friendship. Worse still, the portrayal of the sleaze bucket by Linus Roache, was exceptionally terrible. Perhaps it isn't that he was not believable as said sleaze bucket; maybe it is that he was too believable as a sleaze bucket - and nothing else. The range of emotions necessary to pull off the nuances of his role, were never part of the actor's almost uninterested delivery.

On a better note, the soundtrack to The Apology is pretty good, with the Ages and Ages version of the closing "Auld Lang Syne", being SO particularly noteworthy and resonant, that I bought it.

This isn't a horror film. It's barely a thriller. This is a generally a two person play they decided to film. The main character is hosting family Christmas after 20 years. She also lost her daughter, 16, 20 years ago who simply disappeared. Her ex-brother-in-law arrives unexpectedly, and this starts the drama. Unfortunately, the drama is a two person morality play of contrived dialogue and weakest of characterizations. This film triggers a lurid reaction to watch to the end, but only to see if any truth is found. Along the way, information that is meant to shock us is disclosed, and secrets are shared. All leading to the ending that is supposed to build faith in humanity? What I found was grief that goes without processing leads to dissatisfied and unhappy lives. Could have done something better with the 90 minutes.