Monkey Love

I could not bring myself to sit through the entire 135 minutes. My wife and I were both bored soon after the film started. The acting was over dramatic and unrealistic. Perhaps the fight scene was supposed to be funny as well as the behavior of Amy's parents. The Amy's performance was satisfactory but her two friends over reacted in many of the scenes which made it unbelievable.

Where other films were shot on a dolly this film was hand held. DVD sound quality was acceptable and even. The cinematography was clear and sharp. Continuity was acceptable. It reminds me of the student films created in a 8mm cinematography class I took 30 years ago. The story could have been told in 30 minutes.

Watched it on cable TV in 2020 during covid-19 pandemic. Wasn't sure if this was a student-diploma movie or a "normal" movie.... Either ways it was bad, very poor directed and filmed, very poor acting. It lacked on so many levels that I am wondering how even they let this movie hit the public? It brings nothing to the film arts.

I was amazed when discovered this movie was filmed in 2002, it looked like an early 70's movie. Jeremy Renner looked like he's 18 y.o. in this one, but he is 31. lol

It was bad, but I've seen worse. My rating 2/10.

I found the box made the film more appealing than it actually is. The script is interesting if not resembling that of a soap opera.

Despite a hard attempt to watch this film, I eventually ended up discarding it for few reasons; It feels like a long soap opera with static, repetitive shots in over-lit sets (or what look like sets), and it's visually dull. Examples being that the colours often seem saturated and dull, while all possibilities for visually boosting the appeal of the film are ignored - even something as simple as altering the depth of field, which is almost always infinite and again, dull.

The sound is well recorded, crisp and clear but again lacking a certain something.

Above all, this feels very much like a student film: undeveloped, simple and shallow on many accounts. The writing, however, could possibly be the saving grace of the film were to be backed up with equally appealing direction, lighting, sound and editing.

This does appear to be a film made in the youth of the said director's career which could explain why it is how it is.

Despite my negative views, I can say that there are no, or not many errors with boom shadows, editing errors, continuity errors in the shots, narrative or lighting and it's obvious much care has been taken to avoid such issues.

As a film that has been placed in the genre of comedy, I feel it has been misplaced. This is a very performance orientated piece which would sit neatly in the genre of drama or docu-drama along side a short such as 'Tape'. With this possibility in mind, it could still be seen as a comedy from a narrative perspective.

I do feel though, that this film could be very useful in a learning environment as something for beginner to intermediate film students to critique as a piece that's not too complex in an particular way, as something at a quality to aim for when producing their first short.

I hope this is a useful review, and that I haven't overlooked the direction the makers were approaching this project from.

Monkey Love is a well crafted story about a young girl coming to grips with life as an adult. Actually, it's a funny, interesting, even quirky story about compelling people and their romances. The writing and directing are first rate, and performances by Amy Stewart, Jeremy Renner and Seamus Dever reveal new talent bound for bigger things. What a great way to enjoy a night at the movies...making Monkey Love. Even the music is not the usual collection of the first 8 bars of current pop hits. Enjoy.

This film was... Different. The way it was shot was boring and even annoying. The lines were cliché, or even one step above of that, because it was truly awful. I didn't get how her relationship with her parents pertained to the story. But I love love love Jeremy Renner and Seamus Dever... So I was completely willing to overlook this because it was their early works and they are both onto bigger and better things. Not decent, not OK, but it was there, so I watched it. Probably, most defiantly, won't watch it again. There are better Jeremy Renner films that he did before his "big break", like Dahmer or Neo Ned. And watch Seamus on Castle. Much better options than this. So I give this four stars, two stars for Jeremy, and two more for Seamus.