Syrup

First of all, I haven't read the book, which I heard was good. This movie is more of a social commentary on consumerism, particularity in the advertising industry and how everything is about projecting the right image to make money.

The main story is about two advertising people are attracted to each other, but are they attracted to the image that the other is presenting or the real person behind it? There are some interesting anecdotes on the nature of marketing being presented in the movie, which I find to be the biggest draw of the movie for me. If seen from a "criticism of marketing" point of view, the movie is "deep". There are layers to the characters and story that requires a re-watch to get everything.

Overall, the movie achieves what it set to do. The story moves along at a good pace, there were no boring parts. Amber Heard's acting outshines the other actors. The not-so-big budget of the movie shows at times, but it doesn't interfere it from being a good movie.

Just knowing the concept of this movie was about marketing and the psychology and thought process behind getting into the consumer's head and trying to sell your product to them had me extremely intrigued and eager to watch the movie.

First off the movie has some great points where the explanation of the marketing concepts are explained and shown, this is what I really enjoyed about the whole experience of watching the movie. Also the corporate intrigue with betrayals and the stealing of ideas perhaps delves into the real word. Amber heard is also extremely good looking in the film :P

Unfortunately the drama and romance they tried to put in the film although well fitting was executed horribly. At one point in the film Scat, the male main character asks the female main character, Six, whether she loves him or not. I had no inclination that she had those feelings for him except that she asked him to sleep in her bed instead of the couch beforehand. The reason I was lead to believe that is because they had had minimal positive interactions together.

The movie also has lots of cuts which cut out the reinforcement of what Amber Heard's character does. It is to sell stuff to the senior members of a firm. We hardly see any of that which means she is only there for her beauty which is great but the romance is horrible.

I also believe Scat looks like a total ******bag even though the character is suppose to be a genius guy who occasionally does stupid things. Of course my opinion and assumption.

Overall great concept, the romance and drama could have been done much better in my opinion. Watch it for the marketing concepts, don't expect much from the drama and romance department because that had me wanting to stop watching half way through the movie and it is only 90 minutes long.

That's because every person involved with marketing should give it a try. A celluloid pool of genius, marketing, competition & stereotype.

The movie starts off great succeeding in creating ample suspense to hook our bottoms onto the seat. Then, it approaches genius with the lead characters showing average diligence to a somewhat good book. Screenplay is a marvel just like the music is beat. Cinematography impressed me mostly because the details were kept at bay and what matters (humour & dialogs) are highlighted.

The story, as a whole, wasn't new to me, but since it is an adaptation, I loved the 'plot.' And with the inclusion of love, sex (not much) or romance, the recipe smelled good but has ounces of sourness in it. Creating gigantic levels of deep meaning concepts, non-ambiguity, establishing marketing mantra by keeping the stereotype strong... in tandem, Syrup works for most of its part due to the sharp oration, execution & pleasurable narrative with texts and inklings. Flashbacks, pencil-drawn-animation, in-advertisements, secrets, serious competition portrayals & slapstick are the chief points.

What it lacks is an unequivocal climax. Well, it might seem tangible for a story with so curvy structure, but as an entertainer, the comedy-drama stumbles halfway into the second part, corrupts into vagueness, obliterates some of its half-baked characters & alludes hackery. However, it will be a ice-cream sherbet for marketing guys.

BOTTOM LINE: A heavy 6.9/10 for the different style of storytelling & a palpable experience. Give it a try, you may like it! This is a type of movie which puts you in a dilemma - whether to spend few bucks & watch it once or wait for sometime & own it forever.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

MESSAGE: Competitions are for sissies. And when love is involved, you better watch it out on who surpasses & who quits.

Profanity: Mediocre | Sex: Very Mild | Nudity: No | Mouth-Kiss: Mild | Violence: No | Gore: No | Smoking: Strong | Alcohol: Mild | Drugs: Mediocre | Vulgarity: No

I haven't read the book, but reading the comments it would appear as though its fairly different so I don't think this matters much as far as a review of the film is concerned.

The main thing that distracted me through the whole movie was the casting of Shiloh Fernandez as Scat, other than maybe having the look of a sleazy marketer, he seemed massively out of place as a male lead. I didn't think there was any chemistry between him and Amber Heard at all, any attraction between the two seemed totally implausible. He'd probably be fine in a supporting role, but not as a lead. I was wondering the whole time if his father financed the movie or something to get him the role.

Other than that the movie was OK, it did seem to be trying to hard to be cool and edgy and didn't really pull it off. Sure it had a tiny budget, but if anything doing things on a shoe string should make a movie more cool and edgy, but it wasn't at all. Everything that was meant to be cool seemed forced and cliché.

On the positive side, I thought Amber Heard was great as 6, as was her character. I can see why the ending left a few unhappy, but I think it was better to do what they did than just some by the numbers rom-com ending.

Syrup is a clever piece of film based on Max Barry's blacker than black novel about modern business where saying Wharton and Harvard is more important than effort and hard work. In a world where brand image is everything, everything is up for grabs.

Shiloh Frenandez plays Scat, a guy with dreams but lacking the killer instinct, that is supplied by 6, a platinum blonde who lives for marketing, well-played by Amber Heard - together they look to make a new soft drink and get involved in the ludicrously lucrative world of inter-office politics and global marketing.

This is good solid satire that just about has enough self-knowing irony to cock a snoot at what it's meant to be doing - and we, as the audience are gullible to be fooled and wise enough to know the fun is being fooled.

All in all this is a well-made and well-packaged film that doesn't quite get to the heart of the novel - but it's fun and funny and appeals to the post-hipster too cool for school in all of us.