The Bachelors

Not sure why this is listed as a romantic comedy. Truth be told, it is neither. But it is a study in the effects of grief. A gut-wrenching story of emotional survival; tentative and tenuous relationships; self truths; and the desperate need to come out on the other side as unscathed as one can, in the face of bitter loss.

For me this movie hit close to home as my sister and I lost our mother suddenly, when we were young, and at a time we were expecting many more years of love! I am sure this is the case for many losing a parent can be a hard fact of life at any age. J.K. Simmons always seems to rise to the occasion of any role he plays. This one is no different as you feel like you experience the pain with him at moments in the movie. Great effects as just like in real life there are memories that trigger the hardship of losing a loved one, and it is sometimes hard to get your balance! I felt the story as a whole was very well done as it starts out with J.K. Simmons taking his son packing up, moving, and trying to start elsewhere by leaving the home that him and his wife spent over 30 years in. As we all know running away from something doesn't help until we face tragedy head on. Some great acting also by Josh Wiggins (who I recently saw in Walking Out) who plays the son. I though the cast was well thought out, and and the movie gets support from all of them with some great acting. I especially liked the part of Carine who is played by Julie Delpy, many of you might remember her playing Carine in the Before Sunrise, Sunset, and Midnight Trilogies. Also her being French and being cast as the French Teacher in this one was a brilliant move. All in all an experience well worth watching as I liked the way the movie developed and took us all on a memorable ride and experience. Like I said one that many of us have been taken on a similar ride in a part of life that can be tragic and one that we deal with in many different ways. This one exposes many of the other characters realizing we all are dealing and surrounded by other's who can be hurting from life in different ways. Again a great Heartfelt triumph, very well done!!

Now this film I liked, has the human emotion that we all feel at times. The actors we right on point and we'll balanced, story was nice. This is a good watch, not great! but a good piece of work.

In a nutshell, the film tells the story about a teacher, after the death of his wife, and his son that move to a new city, where emotional connections with two women help them begin to heal. During 2020 pandemic and less than two years after I watched "The Bachelors" for the 1st time, I realized (after my wife commented it) that I (we) already watched it, but I completely forget it, meaning, it's not that memorable (at least for me) regardless it is a solid dramedy with maybe shallow attempt at exploring themes of depression and mental illness. To be honest, I almost wish the movie was a mini-series just so all the film characters and their backgrounds could have been developed more. Basically, a poor script did not allow story-line to develop enough or for anything else than mostly surface characters and a mediocre drama with some good moments in the relationship of father and son. Acting wise, despite the fact that J.K. Simmons is the biggest name among the cast, each of the four top-billed actors deserve credit for film deft emotional balance. To conclude, while film can feel slow at times, I can recommended it just, please, not watch it if you are feeling down.

Rating: 7+

As the movie started I was expecting a light rom com about overcoming loss. What I got was a coming of age story mixed with gut wrenching moments about mental illness, depression and how to deal with loss. I like to be surprised, and this movie definitely did that, as it goes places I wasn't expecting, with great acting by everyone, which helps sell the drama and makes it even harder to watch. Due to its theme this is not an easy movie, and I can understand that sometimes people don't want to see movies like this, but if you can stomach it it's well worth the ride.