June y John

A really enjoyable, delightful movie, it was so refreshing to watch it. It's so typical of today's world that everybody finds something to criticise, to have a negative opinion on things. If there's an action movie, it's a problem that everybody is fighting, shooting, not getting hurt. If there's a romantic movie, it's full of unrealistic cliches. There's this movie, you will miss the sanity, the seriousness from it. But why? You should accept movies for what they are. This is an insane, funny, lovely story for an easy, light entertainment. And it also has a hidden message, you just have to find it. But don't think too hard, just sit down, relax and enjoy it.

The "manic pixie dream girl" trope has been dissected to death, and I get it. But I'm not one of those people. I actually love the trope when it's handled with care and creativity. We've probably seen hundreds of films that play with some variation of it. Some are good, some are great, and some are downright terrible.

This film falls squarely in the terrible category.

Nothing works here. The acting is wooden, the story is painfully bland, and the direction is as uninspired as the atrocious dialogue. It feels like a soulless attempt to cash in on a trope without understanding what makes it compelling in the first place.

Compare this to Marmalade (2024), which came out just last year. That film completely reinvented the trope, giving it a fresh, meaningful twist that actually made it interesting again. This one? It's just a lazy mess.

No pun intended - as in life or live ... or both. Luc Besson is at it again and as a friend noticed, he casts the female role the way you'd expect him to. And you probably are not off guessing that he might see himself in the male protagonist ... being swept away ... by this woman who is quite enticing to say the least ... but also really crazy ... and someone you can have adventures with.

Now this can be one of those don't try this at home cases ... but suspension of disbelief is a big thing. Obviously you are not supposed to literally do everything the characters are doing - but you may take a positive message out of the movie ... and live ... not the as if it's your last day ... just live ... just love and just be your best self! Well if that is what you get here - that'd be awesome for sure.

I read the title from song review once and it stuck to my mind. Now it's appropriate time to use it. The June character reminds me of Leeloo from 5th Element and theme is similar "love conquers all". Luc Besson wrote 5th Element as a teenager. I don't know when he wrote this story but it certainly feels like a work of teenager. Perhaps I'm just too old but this is very juvenile and unoriginal fairy-tale full of cliches.

The biggest problem however is that it does not really touch or raise any emotions other than cringe. I don't know if it works better when you are teenager watching it with your first date. I was just left wondering did teenage-Luc have some real-life free spirited girl he adored from distance and later used in this Leeloo / June character?

I usually don't write reviews.

But I wanted to say: Please don't make movies for the big screen when you can't afford proper camera equipment or post production.

This movie looks like it's recorded with a cellphone from the 2010s. I don't care if that's intended, its just painful to watch on anything bigger than an iPhone.

Despite this the plot is okayish, but nothing special: Immature boys dream comes true, with enough flex to make it appropriate for love story seeking women... It had it's funny moments which brought me over the time. If the "visual style" would have been a little more on my side of expectations for a professional movie I would rather give it 5 to 6 stars.