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How often do white peoples go sit by the creek alone? Poorly written opportunities to talk, not great acting, & very little chemistry.

This might be the worst movie I've ever seen. It tries so hard to be dramatic but it is horribly scripted and acted, and the pathetic attempts at establishing backstories and relationships failed miserably. I'm not even sure why these college friends who have drifted apart were brought to this contrived wedding, since they have nothing to do with the couple. Shockingly bad, and nothing actually happens, though several times they seem to think something has happened. I can only assume it was written by the types of people that start their own slow claps after telling a story with no point. It is hard to say who the worst character is, but I'm going to go with the colonel Sanders-based uncle who whips out a truly gag-worthy and cliche speech on love for the benefit of one of the eleven thousand main characters.

The soundtrack is the one redeeming thing - if you completely ignore that it makes zero sense in the context of the scenes the songs are tied to - then again, it would be hard to match a song to a scene where nothing is happening.

A really great romantic independent with strong writing, great directing and really good performances. It's got a "Big Chill" style storyline with friends getting together after a few years for a big event (a marriage rather than a funeral). It takes place in Athens, Georgia and the location is great, perfect for a wedding but with lots of space for the characters to interact. The bride and groom barely appear in the film as it's not about the culmination of a romance but rather past friends coming together and dealing with their lives and romances since they were last all together. Will past lovers reunite, will former best friends continue to let a girl come between them, will a young man come to terms with his dark secret and rediscover life outside of the bottle? Hey, it's a movie so it's got lots of big emotions but it always feels grounded and real even during the moments of comedy. Proof that little can-do independents can outclass, and provide a much better film than the big studio Rom-Coms we're getting these days. A good story told with warmth, humor and above all...romance.

This is a positively dreadful rehashing of the "Big Chill" motif. Some of the characters are positively uninteresting and rank downward into gratingly obnoxious. The few who do manage to attract my attention quickly repel me with their poor acting or horridly written dialogue. In keeping with the modern trend of trying to intertwine a multiplicity of different stories in order to avoid having to come up with a real plot is brought to new heights of dullness in this insipid production.

Jeff Stephenson has directed some good works in the past, but with this one I think he must have been just as unenthusiastic as I am. Or possibly drunk. Looking through the cast of characters I see only one actor who turned out a good performance, veteran Barry Corbin of Northern Exposure fame. His depiction of colorful Uncle Dennis provides the only bright spots in this unfortunate hodgepodge of trite stereotypes.

If you are a student of writing, directing or acting, study this movie as a splendid example of what not to do. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

(2009) Not Since You DRAMA/ ROMANCE

Co-written and directed by Jeff Stephenson, starring Desmond Harrington as Sam Nelson a struggling writer, who's just stopped by to a town near Georgia, for a wedding invitation. Unbeknownst, to find out that his ex-girlfriend, Amy Smith (Kathleen Robertson) of seven years had already been married to a guy who has just given him a lift from the airport. This is just one of many blatant unresolved issues we're showcased here which is obviously another cheapie 'reunion' type of movie. We're then introduced to more quirky characters as it's reminiscent of "The Big Chill", "Beautiful Girls", "Return of the Secaucus Seven" etc... Take my word for it, all of these examples and more are superiorly better. I practically had to re-watch the beginning twice to grasp hold of it's several characters since it's blatantly thrush at it's viewers assuming we would already understand their petty love problems. One of the most convoluted characters I had ever witnessed in a movie is when a guy who does nothing but drink beers all day and all night, I dunno, by the name of Joey 'Fudge' Fudgler (Elden Henson) and throughout the entire movie, the movie never shows him drunk. This must be the first. It's entire synopsis as well as it's dialogue is like something I'd write if I was still in high school trying to hit puberty. The only authenticity this movie contained, is the final few minutes, ending which can't make up for the garbage viewers had to endure.