I'm Losing You

This movie was a mess. So many lines, so many characters, so little definition, so little logic. If I had paid I would have yelled for my money back. The performances were ludicrous. Andrew McCarthy was the pits. He gets the most stupid expressions on his face when acting. I guess you can guess I give this one a resounding '1'. Sorry, but I was unable to go lower.

A thoughtful movie can be influential and instructive in guiding us through the obstacles and sometimes true horror of life. This is that kind of movie, and, if not a great one....certainly a very fine one. It deserves a 10.

A few years ago I had read Bruce Wagner's novel with horrified fascination...and I was suddenly shocked to be seeing it as a movie here, late at night, in little flyblown Costa Rica on the Movie Channel...at first I thought it looked familiar, and then..."my god, it's "I'm Losing You!" I had not even known it had been made.

Such a sad loss to have had "Eyes Wide Shut" or "Blair Witch" suck all the air out of the room and leave "I'm Losing You" to the video cutout rackjobbers. This is a strong and corrosive movie, and so sad. Perhaps it is no wonder it had no 'hit' potential....but if one ever wants a slice of the LA urban dystopia as a part of their research project in the year 3000, they couldn't do better than "I'm Losing You."

Rosanna Arquette and Elizabeth Perkins are truly remarkable, but then so is almost everyone else who is in this very real, very serious, melanomadrama.

This is an almost stereotypical example of a good book being turned into a bad movie. However, there are three interesting details that make this case unique: 1. The guy who wrote the book is actually the same guy who made the movie! 2. The book mocks Hollywood culture in many different ways, so making the book into a movie is somewhat ironic. 3. The movie is really, really bad.

Why isn't the movie as good as the book? There are too many reasons to list. Bad casting, the movie lacks the humor of the book, key scenes in the book aren't in the movie, etc. Pretty typical stuff.

If you've read the book, it might be worth it to see the movie though. It's almost unwatchable, but you might want to tough it out just so you can puzzle over it and ask: "What was Bruce Wagner thinking?"

To me, this movie was a "been there done that" type. There was nothing new or revealing in any manner of its presentation or otherwise. I tend to agree with reviewer on several movies that I rent but this movie was really hard to watch without prematurely rewinding.

Illness, death, and a family's reaction to it have been the subject of a multitude of films, but the potential there for high drama is so great that the vein could hardly be exhausted. When I first started watching "I'm Losing You" (and no, I didn't read the book) and saw Frank Langella's character receive his terminal bad news, I assumed the focus would be on him and how his family handled the crisis. I was surprised, then, when it turned out that the Grim Reaper was all over the place, stalking characters major and minor.

Which would have been fine if this film had been the great meditation on death and dying that it so obviously wants to be. Maybe there just wasn't enough time to thoroughly develop all the characters and plot elements, but I surely wouldn't have wanted a longer film. Consequently nothing in it really reached or impressed me. Particularly poorly handled, I thought, was Rosanna Arquette's character, whose mental breakdown and interest in/obsession with with a Jewish funeral ritual were not very well-explained, at least not to my satisfaction. The ritual, by the way, was interesting from a cultural and educational point of view, but as a part of the film it was my least favorite. I disliked Julie Ariola's pious character every time she was on the screen, for some reason. And I found myself again wondering why Arquette has such a hard time finding roles that are worthy of her.

Apparently many people found this film edifying, but I would proceed with caution. One thing proponents and detractors alike could probably agree on: if you're looking for a tear-jerker, go elsewhere. There probably wasn't a wet eye in the house when this film was playing.