Beautiful Ohio

The plot of the movie is nothing extraordinary. In fact, it may even be interesting, but I couldn't be certain because the sound track seems to have been inverted, with the background noise in the film drowning out the characters' speeches. This technical issue was terribly frustrating for me, and I wonder if this was an issue in the original release.

Look, I'm appreciative of small, quiet movies--like I'm very grateful that someone made "The Station Agent"--but "Beautiful Ohio" is small and quiet and not much of a movie. You won't be sitting on the edge of your seat due to the conflict. This movie is like you broke into someone's house to rob it, they came home early, and you are hiding in a closet watching a family that is obviously dysfunctional, but not much is happening. The most ridiculous part of this movie is when the oldest son's girlfriend moves into the basement--drops down a mattress to sleep on--and the family doesn't figure this out within six hours. This takes place in 1973, and the family's father acts like he just discovered there was something called Rock & Roll. The cast is great, but I can't believe that each one of these actors read the script amd didn't immediately run in the other direction. In interviews Michelle Tractenberg complained that you could see her butt in one scene. Yeah, from about 50 yards away. So, guys, don't get too excited. Skip this movie.

It's 1973 Cleveland, Ohio. Wannabe intelligentsia Messerman parents (William Hurt, Rita Wilson) throw out the TV. Their son Clive (David Call) is a math genius. He excels in competition but seems to be growing distant. He speaks in a secret language with his friends. His girlfriend Sandra (Michelle Trachtenberg) is secretly living in the basement. His younger brother William (Brett Davern) discovers the secret and starts falling for her.

There is a great reveal ending. The movie simply needs more intensity and tension for the rest of the movie. It needs more drama. Most of this movie is too flat. The acting is fine but they don't get enough to do. The direction is functional. There are possibilities here for great drama but it doesn't really do anything with them. Even the math competition is without drama.

It took more than one viewing for me to really like this. First viewing, first ten minutes, it felt too weak to have reached DVD distribution. Then it picked up but it took special circumstances for me to watch it a second time.

The second time, to me that was okay. The third and fourth viewings it was really okay.

The start of the film felt way too high brow. Repeated viewing say no, that is just the family with parents that enjoy that approach. Pseudo high brow? Not really, but the kids need a different mix.

*

Around the same time I was also watching 17 Again, a big-ish budget Zac Efron that is widely respected, and I actually prefer Beautiful Ohio.

I find 17 Again to have a lot of amazing details and sequences, way above this story for that. Just this one seems to flow better. No little chunks of boredom among all of the detail. They can both be understood as considering traps that people used to fall into, still do, and both feel to be worthwhile and very different to each other, just I can now like Beautiful Ohio all the way through.

17 Again is mostly high quality in a range of different ways, this is quality in rather different ways.

This was a wonderful Movie. I saw the preview the preview in a special fund raiser in Cleveland for the Arts. I Can't wait till it is in wide distribution so that I can see it again. Chad Lowe the director and producer has brought humor, meaning, emotion, and depth to flaming. The actors are superb. William Hurt and Rita Wilson are excellent and make this movie time well spent. Julianne Marguilies is surprisingly charming in this role. The new actors are very good and I know they will have an excellent future. It was an emotional and compelling movie that kept me enthralled from the moment it started to the surprising end.