Animals

Laura (Holliday Grainger) is an aspiring writer in her early 30's who is struggling to get started. She meets party girl Tyler (Alia Shawkat) and they spend their nights in drink, drugs, and partying. Laura starts to tap into a domestic life which is resented by Tyler.

This kind of late coming of age story has been done plenty of times before. The only thing missing is an overdose which usually wakes up the character. The other thing that I expected but is missing is some kind of gay panic scene. In the end, this movie fizzles out rather than explodes and that's kinda poetic. It's oddly sweet and touching. Of course, writing about her life is expected right from the start.

This film was supposed to be about the relationship between Laura and Tyler. It's a special friendship but there's dangerous side. Unfortunately the film wanders way off course and the last third of the film explores Laura cheating on her fiance. Is she doing this (subconciously) so she can stay with Tyler? Didn't come across that way. I think the screenwriter urgently needed to sit down and cut a lot out of the movie and focus on what it was really about. Basically we needed more Tyler.

We also urgently needed to see these characters at their day jobs. Laura says she's a waitress (I think). We needed to see her struggling through an awful hungover day. Or being fired for showing up late. We see them drinking through the week but there's not much flipside. There's no consequences.

Probably the most glaring oddity is the scene where Tyler (apparently) steals a jar of unspecified drugs (MDMA crystals? methamphetamine?). It's a truly hefty quantity presumably worth many thousands of euros. How did they get away with this? Why isn't there someone hunting for it?

Heartwarming, funny and sad all at different times the film was a real blast for the majority although felt was around 20 minutes to long towards the end it did drag a little and the humour began to wear off. Overall still worth a watch and Holliday Grainger in particular was fantastic.

So I get the point of this movie ,, girl gotta be her own self .. If she wants to be someone she's trying to be she should not be depending on a husband or a friend or whatever ... I mean cool idea .. not original though ,, didn't read the book ,, but I watched an interview once for Emma Jane Unsworth (the writer of ANIMALS the book) and she kinda gave a clear idea that she wants an all girl movie just because girl power ... which is amazing, don't get me wrong.. but apparently the book itself isn't that strong for this ...

The cast were okay though,, I like Alia Shawkat, she's like 30 now but she still has that funny quirky overstepping girl kinda vibes and she had a good back and forth with Holliday Grainger ,, anyway, the script, hence the book, didn't help but still the whole cast tried.

Anyway, this is not a good choice for a family movie night ,, but If you feel like there's literally nothing to watch ,, try to find some old DVDs you have or something, and if you couldn't then Aaah what the heck, you can watch it , who know's you might not hate it.

Not a bad movie but films like this rely on the viewer caring about the main characters, I didn't. The first half with the pair of girls playing was fun but once the dull boys came into it the movie drags slowly into not very much.