Straight A's

I watched this movie with a grain of salt, due to all the negative reviews here on IMDb. I was expecting nothing and just killin' some time.

I had to come back to the reviews here to double check that the negative reviews were actually for this movie.

This was an excellent movie. The story is superb, like a really good short story I didn't notice the time and it was over before I realized it.

I don't know if people were expecting something like True Blood or maybe reacting to some of the character's behaviors they didn't like or what. But let me tell you what, this is one well made, well acted and well directed movie. The filming and "artful" effects are done in just enough of a way that really tied it together as well.

I was genuinely surprised that I had not heard of this movie before. I just came across it on Netflix at random.

My conclusion is: it is a very interesting story that I found to be far more real and interesting than the last 30 big Hollywood movies I have seen... Maybe more.

"Mom told me to come." After his mother tells him to visit the family he abandoned, Scott (Phillippe) surprises his sister in law (Paquin) and her kids. Decidind to wait for his brother to come home Scott stays and begins to form a relationship with Katherine's kids in spite of her requests. When Scott begins to act like his old self she wants him out, but he is determined to listen to his mother's advice...even though she is dead. I know what your thinking, a man hears his dead mother and listens, that can't make a good movie. You would be wrong. The acting in this is really good, but the story of each character is so well written and thought out that it really makes the movie that much more enjoyable. 99% of movies like this are very predictable and for the most part this one is too, but there is a twist in this I did not see coming, which also adds to the enjoyment of the movie. This is a surprise sleeper that is very much worth seeing. I recommend. Overall, a little low budget movie that proves good movies can be made with a good script. I give it a B+.

Although it is classified as a "comedy" there is absolutely nothing funny in this movie. That being said, I enjoyed every minute of it. Ryan Phillipe is really good in this movie and so is the kid. The rest of the characters are somewhat irrelevant in my opinion. Without giving too much away, the ending where they're just sitting the two are sitting enjoying eachtohers company reminds me of my wife and I and really was a great moment. I recommend this movie to everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I watched this film on netflix and to be honest I am kind of used to watching crappy movies on there but today was definitely a pleasant surprise.

I rather enjoyed this film. It's too bad it seems to have been given a half hearted production. The film has so much going for it, but seems to have stopped short of what it would have taken to really make a go of it, namely, cohesion and a really good edit. There were some problems with continuity too. Was Scott gone 9 or 10 years because both were mentioned and it turns out to matter. Mr. Phillippe's Scott seemed to also have had a tattoo that came and went. It's those little things that show a lack of attention that reflect a failure of…what? Talent? Devotion? Funding? I don't know. But the end product is unpolished. In fact it plays better as a series of scenes than as one film. It tells the story of one family, William(Luke Wilson), his wife Katherine(Anna Paquin), and their two young children. The marriage is struggling. They have all the trappings of wealth and status but William is constantly away on business and Katherine is becoming robotic and cold, just going through the motions. The children are responding with eccentric behavior. Charles, for instance, wears a suit and carries a brief case to elementary school. There is also William's father(Powers Boothe) living nearby who has succumbed to Alzheimer's. But most importantly for this film, there is William's brother, Scott(Ryan Phillippe), who has been missing for some years but shows up one afternoon riding a horse onto the property. This film is classified as a comedy and it is funny, but in the old fashioned comedic method of amusing circumstances rather than manic behavior or convoluted plots. The comedic circumstances all center around the character of the prodigal brother, Scott. He is definitely the cuckoo in the nest of this buttoned down family. He drinks too much, smokes pot and has very little censor. He is utterly charming man, but immature and often inappropriate, especially in his vocabulary. He soon wins over the children and has Katherine struggling with feelings she once had for him. Scott has returned home at the request, he insists, of his dead mother who tells him he is needed. And except for total lack of conformity and his habit of lighting up a joint and/or a cigarette constantly as well as trying to drink the drink cabinet dry, he's not a bad house guest. However that's not how Katherine sees it, he's rather more spontaneous than she can tolerate. Yet we see that people are like moths to his flame, and Katherine is no more immune than her children. I found the acting really well done, not surprising given the cast, but the supporting cast doesn't lag behind either. (How they managed to cast a little girl who looks so much like she could be Anna Paquin's daughter I don't know.) The musical score added much to the atmosphere. I'm a big fan of well done musical scores. I've mentioned this is funny; I laughed out loud several times while watching it. I enjoyed this film. It's been a long time since I saw Ryan Phillippe act with child actors and I want to point out that he does it singularly well. Overall his portrayal of Scott drives the whole film. But I'd have liked this effort to be more than a direct to video pass off. It seems a betrayal of all the work and talent that went into it. And last but not least the ending is a really hackneyed cliché. Hate that.

Straight A's is a 2013 comedy drama about a former addict who, pressured by his mother's ghost returns home to Louisiana.

This is a very good independent film about wanting to make up for mistakes and lost time. Scott portrayed by Ryan Phillippe knows that he's a screw up and doesn't want to be, but can't seem to help himself. So after discovering something he decides to go home at his mother's request to make amends with his brother, his lost love, and his father.

The acting in this movie is fantastic, with a great cast that aside from Phillippe also stars Anna Paquin and Luke Wilson. The story is quite touching and strikes a lot of the right spots making you feel for both sides of the argument as far as the characters are concerned. There's some fun moments in the film that will put a smile on your face along with some sad ones, but as a whole this is a very enjoyable movie.

If you haven't seen this before, I would recommend checking it out.