L'ombre d'Emily

The movie was quite enjoyable for the longest time. Well paced, well acted (mostly). Then the conclusion happened. Like seriously what where they thinking.

Not only was it bad (I guess that's just an opinion, but still), it was also a lot worse written, paced and acted than the rest of the movie, up to the point where the only explanation is that the producers or SOMEONE wanted the ending changed to... this. The movie would have been a lot better if it just ended half an hour earlier. The ending is one of the worst I have seen in years.

This was a film that couldn't decide what it wanted to be. It wasn't quite thrilling, and it wasn't quite funny.

I'm compelled to review since the current rating of 6.8 vastly under estimates the fun factor of this movie. I found this title after watching Last Christmas which also starred Henry Golding. I assumed it was another chick flick but my husband acquiesced good-naturedly and ended up loving it as much as I did. The dialogue is clever and sometimes LOL funny and, while we did predict a couple of twists, it still delivered some surprises. Anna Kendrick shines as the unlikely "best friend" of Blake Lively. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Apologetic, seemingly pristine vlogger and single mother Stephanie is thrown for a loop upon meeting beautiful, libertine (and manipulative) alpha female fashionista Emily when their schoolchildren arrange for a play date. Despite being polar opposites, the two women quickly form a friendship, but when Emily's whereabouts suddenly become unknown, Stephanie has her life turned completely upside down while trying to discover the fate of her new best friend. What initially begins as a straightforward drama eventually shifts tone into the realm of dark comedy and mystery thriller/whodunit, with an array of twists and turns (some which probably wouldn't bear close scrutiny) that seem to have taken a page from the works of Hitchcock! Tonally the film is all over the place, and makes some unusual choices for musical interludes, but it's never dull, often laugh-out loud funny, and benefits from an uninhibited performance from Lively, but it falls apart in the third act with an underwhelming ending that (possibly by intention?) feels like self-parody. **½

I was not too impressed with the audiobook but I decided to give the movie a try. It is fun. Anna Kendrick starts out playing a nerdy mom of a preschool son. Blake Lively plays a larger than life, bitchy sophisticate. The story has a lot of twists and turns. It is funny and visually beautiful with jazzy French music. Jean Smart is awesome as usual but she only has a small part. If you want a movie that you don't need to take too seriously but will be fun, this is a good choice. The story is different from the book and maybe a little more believable. It was interesting to see how much Anna Kendrick's character changes during the movie. I liked it.