A Happening of Monumental Proportions

What a weird show. The casting director must've called in every favor they had. The problem this was not the direction or the acting. It was the story. With better writing this could've actually been OK. Instead, I kept wondering why the writer wrote what he wrote. After having watched the movie, I still can't figure it out. There was no point to it. I should've believed the reviews.

Most of the actors in this did a decent job. Katie Holmes's part was kind of a waste. She must really like Judy Greer or something.

But the star of the show was the casting Director. I can't think of any other reason why all of these good actors were in this.

Not exactly what one was expecting but it turned out to have this touching thing going on in the interface between the child and adult worlds - for me anyway. The disappointed user reviews suggest the film was marketed wrongly as another gross-out caper, which it only sort of is. OK some scenes are a bit awkward and off-beat, but actually consider it a dark comedy drama dealt out with a deft and light touch. I enjoyed the rich photography of the edge of city school location especially the glowing finale, the heart warming pop soundtrack, and the actors of all ages are great with quirky characters to match. Give it a break dissing it and let others have a try -- or is urbanity and optimism now so really out of fashion?

No worries- this isn't a spoiler; starts out with the dead guy.

In one word - Cute? That's all I've got. You can tell that this was an earnest first try in directing by someone who got her famous friends together to do a indie project. Script was weak. Too many big names with small, unneeded parts.

Began as what I thought would be a dramady with trying to hide a dead body found on school grounds right before school was to open. We got a little backstory in a couple kids and grownups at drop off. Mixed in a little suspense at the workplace. And Bob. What's going to happen when Bob meets Daniel?

There seemed to be no effort of anything, um, monumental. I may have been happier if I had found out who the dead guy was. "Red Herring", I believe, was his name. Dead guy and title is what made me want to watch. Don't watch. Get crib notes.

Directing DEBUT of actress Judy Greer. It is quite a warmhearted, nicely made quirky, slowburning comedy, but it somehow didnt ignite...

The bad:there is a fine line between quirky and silly. And quirky comedy is the kind of jokes that are created out of weird, but true to life situations. Silly comedies however, are created out of absurd NOT true to life situations. This movie tried to mix quirky with silly jokes and that was it weak point.

I liked this movie when it tried to be serious and true to life. I did not like this movie that much when it geared into silly territory.

The good: a bunch of great actors, acting really well. Lots of original, witty dialogues. Lots of funny plot turns. And an overall really warmhearted spirit of caring for one another, packaged inside a bit of a silly story of marital infidelity and office shenanigans.

That's one way to explain what was a missed opportunity with the ensemble cast featured in this alleged comedy. A single father (played by the rapper/actor Common), is suddenly beset by a relationship revelation and a curious incident at his place of employment. While his daughter waits for his Career Day presentation at her school, that very place is the scene of a man's dead body at the school. It's being handled by administrators in a curious "we must keep this secret" fashion. The directing debut of Judy Greer (professional "best friend" in multiple rom-coms) doesn't hold much appeal beyond some scenery. Most characters here you care just enough about, but it's in a mostly unfunny script.