5-25-77

Last night I did something I thought I would never do: watch the movie 5-25-77. The reason I didn't expect to watch it was because it had languished in production hell for so long I had honestly given up hope of its ever having a wide release.

My first memory of this film was in early 2006. I knew the actor (John Francis Daley) from Freaks and Geeks, and the plot of the movie seemed interesting, so I began to follow its progress. Carrie Fisher was originally supposed to play the mother (she appears briefly, and vaguely, in the first teaser trailer), and Christopher Lloyd was originally cast as Herb Lightman (he appears in the second trailer). For all these reasons, I was really eager to see this movie. Fisher was then replaced by Colleen Camp, and Lloyd by Austin Pendleton, but I still eagerly anticipated this movie.

Back then IMDB still had messageboards, and I would visit this one every now and then. The director, Patrick Read Johnson, would occasionally drop by to give status updates and interact with other users on this site. I think he even answered one of my questions one time. He assured us that, despite various setbacks, the movie would eventually be released. So I waited. But as the years went by I started to lose hope. The movie changed names a couple of times, was screened at a festival here or there, but other than that nothing. I would check back every year or so, but no progress appeared to have been made. I had resigned myself to the fact that I would never see this movie. Until late November 2022 when I said 'Why not?' and I checked again, expecting nothing at all. And to my surprise, there it was, available to stream. After waiting for over 16 years, I would finally be able to watch 5-25-77.

Other reviewers have already described the plot and offered their critique, so I won't delve into that here. Suffice to say that I thought it was enjoyable, charming and funny. The acting was good and the characters interesting. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Steve Coulter as Patrick's friend and sometimes-reluctant actor in Patrick's movies.

In short, after waiting so long for this movie to be released, I was really glad to finally be able to watch it, and I was not disappointed. Kudos to Patrick for not giving up. You persevered and released your labor of love so everyone can now have the opportunity to watch it. In the movie, your younger self worked passionately on movies and achieved his goals despite setbacks and hardships. And the same can be said of you working hard on completing 5-25-77. It may not have been easy, but you did it. Well done!

Aggravatingly uneven. I guess that's how it struck me. I was in high school when Star Wars (no bloody 4, 5, or 6) first came out and I was a big sci-fi nerd, so this movie I felt like this movie should have resonated with me and it really didn't. Austin Pendleton was great, but he always is. Maybe I'm just too old to relate to the teenage characters, but I don't generally have a problem in that area. I was a bit put off but some of the jump-cut sequences and I get that's technique that's used much more than it was in the past. And there was a general lack of focus. Too many sub-plots were competing for screen time and as a result some of them were left unresolved. Maybe the fact that it took 13+ years for the movie to be completed had something to do with this.

It just didn't sit right with me.

I quite enjoyed this movie. It was a very fun movie and the low budget aspect kid of helped keep the charm. The acting is good all around and it's a very nice coming of age story.

This was great self reflection. An incredibly self reflective movie. Kudos to it's writer, director, and subject, all being the same person. It reminded of my own dreams, some faded, some approaching. Love had, love lost. The story telling style was unique and...odd? But fun at the same time. I'll probably never watch this again, but I'll never watch shawshank or shindler's again.

The best friend might have been my favorite. One part pal, one part plot driver, one part angelic sage... If the character was real, I hope that PRJ found a way to rekindle that friendship. Great date night film for sure.

After 8 year old Pat Johnson watches the film 2001: A Space Odyssey in the theater, he becomes obsessed with filmmaking. As a teen, he (John Francis Daley) has been making movies with his friends and family in his backyard in small town Illinois. With help from his mother (Colleen Camp), he sets off to meet his hero in Hollywood.

This movie is too long. It should not be longer than two hours. It's really noticeable in the third act where all I want is for him to get to the theater. At least, Bill points out that he could have walked there by then and that's a good save. Linda becomes way too complicated and I would cut down on Tony. This movie needs to trim at every opportunity. Second, Bill's constant complaining is too annoying. It's frustrating and robs his later declaration of all its power. Finally, John Francis Daley is well into his 30's. It's time that he graduates from Freaks and Geeks. Mostly, this could be better but it still some good ideas.