The Ape

This is a pretty funny movie. James Franco is quite a comedian, which you wouldn't know from seeing some of his darker, brooding roles. Go into it keeping in mind it is a dark comedy, mostly conversational piece, indie, odd story. Harry (Franco) rents an apartment so he can get a break from his distracting family life and finally put pen to paper. The big catch is that a gorilla is already living at the apartment. The gorilla is an actor in a suit, not a real live gorilla, which I guess I would've realized was the case if I'd looked more closely at the cover art. At first I was disappointed, because I expected there would be a real monkey in the movie. I quickly got over that because the actor in the gorilla suit was quite funny and crude.

It does get a bit repetitive and there are very few locations, so I did begin getting bored mid-way through after my initial reaction to the uniqueness of the story began to wear off. I imagine it was a hilarious stage play (which it was adapted from), but I do think it probably loses some of its charm in translation to the screen. I believe it was a one-act play, so they had to "pad" the story a bit to make it long enough to be a movie. It probably would be strongest in one-act length (45 minutes or so).

Overall, it is unique and I laughed out loud many times. You can watch it and analyze some "deeper" meaning because there are definitely layers of metaphor throughout the story…or you can just watch it and laugh.

This is literally the worst movie ever made. I like James Franco and I'm always pulling for someone to succeed but lordy be, I'm stupefied by both the 225,000 dollar budget of this movie and that someone thought it was a good idea to sell it in bulk. The ape is ridiculous, his mouth doesn't move, they just don't show his face when he speaks, not to mention, they become almost lovers by the end? Was no one else extremely uncomfortable with the apogee of this plot? The plausible nature is already out the window as he moves out of his house just to write a book?

The movie just got worse as it went along and despite my hopes for something whimsically odd, it just turned sad. I bought it as a joke. Up until now I thought the Gingerdead Man starring Gary Busey was the worst movie I've seen, I stand corrected. You may step down and take the silver medal, Gary Busey.

Just sayin.

This movies wasn't half bad. I only bought this movie because it was his debut as a writer and a director. So the directing was pretty good, i can see a bit of Epstein talent in him but he needs to work on the cinematography, the camera stood at one angle for too long at times.

Now on to the writing part...OK ummm it was not as good. His story seemed to lack passion in it. The movie started off pretty watchable, a bit cliché at times, but still promising. Then it started to be less and less interesting towards the intimate scene with the boss (not a spoiler, it was all in the trailer). I don't know, i felt James lost interest in writing the story or he had a deadline to meet that he felt pressured to just get it over with. It just had a boring clichéd plot, and it wasn't even a good rendition of movies very similar to it. I felt James was trying to write plots in the styles of Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho) but failed to succeed. There was many plot holes and a lot of questions left, but hey! Ellis' books end with cliff hangers as well. I guess Columbia or wherever he went dried up any writing talent he had. Exactly why you shouldn't study something you love, teachers just suck your talent dry (sorry off topic).

Now the acting! The whole tiny cast were really really good actors and actresses, I was very impressed! Im surprised that most of them were usual extras prior to this movie. The acting was just real! Bravo to them! James, obviously a real good actor, but there was something different about him in this film. It was as if he wasn't acting (yes i know thats what good acting is all about), it was like the character was based on the real him, so he didn't really try hard to get into character (or so i think). The only bad thing about the acting is the tension-filling scenes, they were just too choreographed. I mean watching spider man and seeing how good James is at emotional-filled scenes, this movie just did not prove that.

Now the comedic part of the film. Real funny at times, gorilla man was adorable and funny, really amazing comedic skills. James gets into a more physical comedic role, he shows us a new side to his capability at a slapstick comedy. Bravo! The movie was funny in my opinion but some people would strongly disagree because it was just too jaded. It depends on what type of comedies are funny to you. If you like the sort of "oh I just laughed because some guy fell" kinds of comedy, this movie is for you. If you like British style comedies, meh... But overall, real funny stuff! Finally, this need an honorable mention and I'm sure it has been mentioned in previous reviews- THE MUSIC! Who the heck is this musical wizard? Amazing music, not because its in the ranks of Braveheart or Gladiator soundtracks but because only a person who is that talented can make a catchy tune with like only three notes!(think Jaws theme, that won an Oscar :S)Great music, if there is a soundtrack coming out, ill will be surely buying it! Overall, i give it a 6.5 out of 10. Acting was flawless somewhat, comedy was good, music was just amazing, directing wasn't so bad but there is promise. The only problem was the story, the dialogue, the plot, just anything written! James really needs to fix up his story telling skills, the basis of the story seemed to be a good one, it just needed a lot of tweaking from an experienced superior. James should continue to direct and act, but work a bit on his writing.

Btw, sorry if there are any mistakes in my English, I'm Arab so it isn't my first language. OK well I'm off the study the human body.

A comic gem, tongue-in-cheek, dark, humorously constructed. I don't even like James Franco but this film changes everything. He's high in half of the scenes (you think I'm kidding? he is literally stoned in at least 2 i distinctly remember...you know red swollen eyes and all that) not every movie is the Godfather, not every movie needs to be. not every comedy needs to be Annie Hall, i'd watch this 1000 times before i'd ever watch Date Movie, Scary Movie, Epic Movie, Buddy Comedy Movie, Adventure Movie, Porn Spoof Movie, any of those Wayans brothers or Rob Schneider or David Spade vehicles...it's legitimately hilarious and it doesn't retard its audience (okay so there is a feces-throwing scene, but it's about an ape, that's inevitable) also the whole thing with him being an "ARTISTE!" it's brilliant...James Franco: A+ friend Bravo.

Okay, a movie for James Franco, also directed and written by Franco. It's about a working man who dreams to be a writer, so he rents an apartment to write his novel in peace, only to find that the apartment is occupied by a big foul-mouthed gorilla.

The presentation itself is good, interesting idea. However, through an hour and a half, all I gained from watching it is time wasting. It seemed that the film was done by amateurs; bad shooting, bad story, dialog is done poorly, and most of all bad acting, in fact Mr. Franco adds to the agony in this film by being a bad actor himself.

What chance did that film had to make it? By what it has now, none. Its only chance if it was done in different time (like in the forties and fifties, with remodeled storyline of course), or a cartoon film with family oriented dialog.

For me, zero stars are more like it, but I gave it two because the only thing that helped me through is that I managed to turn on my childish imagination and imagine that the ape is real.