In Lieu of Flowers

This was a pleasant surprise. I think I was expecting a more low-budget product but was amazed at how much they accomplished on an indie budget. I found the story engrossing....it felt very real. One of the most pointed thoughts for me was, whether in actual death or deep loss of a love relationship, how complicated it can be understanding who/what died......can it be only the one who past or can it just as well be the survivors of the passed? I found this exploration interesting? Does one who loses a love one to death suffer and more or less than another that loses a loved one to relational breakup? I guess it is never clear who will be a survivor to live another day. I found the energy and chemistry that developed between Eric and Rachel very engaging and as it built I was further drawn into the film. It went by quickly which is usually the sign for me that a film is very engaging or entertaining. I haven't seen either of these actors on screen before although I saw "The Social Network" which Josh Pence was in but CGI'd out to accommodate identical twins. Spencer was also very good and I expect we will and should be seeing a lot ore of both of these very talented actors. I thought the rest of the cast was also terrific. The injected humor by their friends and the recovery group participants was very well balanced to offset the deep emotional struggles Eric and Rachel were going thru. It is very much like life though. When friends are going thru these deep emotionally dark times we are all unsure/untrained how to deal with them. So our attempts at levity and distraction are injected to offset our feelings of inadequacies, our need or wanting to help them get out of their funk. In the end, it is uncomfortable for all that are around them. Again, extremely well done. It touched my heart. I recognized it for what it was for me, another of those cathartic life moments.

Well to start with, the performances are very bad. I have no idea why Spencer Grammar is an actress as it is appears she has zero acting skills. He face grimaces in this film were so revolting and fake that I wanted to quit watching several times, it literally drove me nuts. I also hated her character from the start, but may be it was Spencer Grammar lack of acting skills that was irritating me big deal. So she just met this guy, literally, for the first time, and she is already lecturing him about smoking? I am a woman myself, but hate this type of pretensions, know it all women. The empty dialogues in the cafe and everywhere else and forced humor added nothing to the story. The healing group scenes were dismal and fake.Too many sad songs. In short, Spencer Grammar has ruined any potential this movie might have had. I have to give a credit to Josh Pence though, his performance was mostly good.

Wasn't what I expected and was very enjoyable to watch. The plot was not your usual cookie cutter story.