April's Shower

This movie tells an amusing if somewhat muddled story, and the acting really is pretty bad -- compared to the usual slick Hollywood stuff. But let's face it, lesbian-oriented films seem to range from low-mediocre to atrocious, so put in the context of the existing art, April's Shower starts to seem a lot better than low-end.

I don't think there was a single polished actor in the bunch. They all over-dramatized or used fakey facial expressions or just plain got things wrong at times.

There were so many relationship twists and flip-flop couplings/decouplings of lesbians and heteros and bisexuals alike that I found myself a bit confused at the end, but I did have fun watching all the mating dances unfold. Be prepared for some plot turns that seem precipitous; either the author left out bits of bridging text here and there or too many scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

If you want to watch this one, try a little experiment: Pretend you are at an amateur production of a play, perhaps put on by your local junior college. It does make the performances feel a lot more plausible.

My review is motivated by what appears to be some negative over analysis of a delightful little film. As they say, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

I found this film very easy to follow. Intended or not, this film has a decided message. We are all people, human beings with prejudices, frailties, strengths, weaknesses, wisdom, or not. Through it all, Doolin shows us we all have the ability to understand, if we want to, and the ability to change. Change our thinking, our perceptions, and how we choose to handle life's little curves.

To accomplish this, Doolin uses stereotypes. Images and ideologies we have all seen, witnessed or felt. We have quite a few somewhat colorful and interesting, if not fun characters in this film, covering a good part of the questions and attitudes we usually see in society. The conservative religious elitist, liberals, gay and lesbian, all juxtaposed against a canvas of a wedding shower, which unexpectedly reveals greater issues beneath the surface.

Doolin handles such deftly,and considering the issues discussed, same sex marriage & gay relationships,some rather heavy issues, she gets her point across with humor and a lightness which makes it easy to appreciate.

Doolin makes no preachy commentary of the subject matter;l She exposes the issue of gay relationships, sex and loving a person of the same sex for what it is. All of us want to feel close to another, and want to be loved. How it manifests, and comes to be, is only as it is. (and) as it is, is really no big deal. All the fuss, a lot to do about nothing.

Trish Doolin is a very talented writer/directer/actor. if you are secure enough in your own self, and don't mind watching a comedy with gay subject matter, you may find this film quite enjoyable.

My parting advice to other critics, Don't over think it. It's really pretty simple.

This is my go to guilty pleasure movie if I'm ever feeling sad, or sick or just want something comforting to watch. I love all the characters and the craziness that is the storyline. Cute, funny, comforting, crazy, what more could you want? It's an easy movie to just get lost in.

Bad B movie that seems to have been funded by one of the lead actors. Send them all to acting school. The money would have been better spent on feeding the homeless. The plot has been done to death and the actors know nothing about transitions. Not ready for prime time players. This film was created to stroke an ego of an actress that can not get hired in real films created by studios. This film proves you can not sleep your way into the acting world. The ending is predictable, I feel sorry for the editor who was forced to cut away from the actor who was speaking because they were so bad and the reaction from the other actor was better.

Nothing really spectacular and memorable about this comedy. The number of different characters that get thrown at the viewer once the movie starts is remarkable. Too bad that during the movie the character numbers just keep piling up and it gets quite confusing who's who and what the relationship dynamics of each character are. Some of the characters don't really get explored at all so, I guess, they are in the movie for comedic purposes, but they don't play that role very well, which in turn spoils the movie somehow. There are some okay jokes here and there, but most of them feel plain.

The same can be said about the acting - decent performances are mixed with poor ones and the result is nothing special.