Bad Luck

The latest addition to the genre known as hyperlink cinema concerns a collection of people connected by their interest in a self-help book. I'd say that the main thing that I took from "Reach Me" is that I now know about the song "Denise". For the most part the movie didn't, well, reach me. I've seen most of the cast members in other movies, most of them better than this ("Rocky", "Idiocracy" and "Machete", to name just a few). Hyperlink cinema, meanwhile, has better movies to its name ("Syriana" and "Fast Food Nation", to name just two).

In the end, "Reach Me" will be of interest if you want to learn about "Denise". Not much else otherwise. I think that I'll try to find "Denise" in its entirety.

"Why would a best selling author go into hiding?" When a motivational book takes the world by storm. An actor, convict, mobster, and a rapper all swear by the book. Everyone is trying to find out just who the mysterious writer really is. Teddy (Berenger), the author has gone into hiding. When young reporter Roger (Astin) finds him he is the one that tries to motivate Teddy to revel himself. This is a pretty decent movie but there were some flaws in it. First of all there really isn't a standard plot in the movie. This is a movie along the lines of Crash, or the recent Third Person where there are many different stories going on that end up connecting in some way. I did think the movie was OK but it never really grabbed me and made me totally engrossed in it. Stallone really steps out of his comfort zone in this and while not terrible I can see why he sticks to action movies. There really isn't a whole lot to say about this other then it's worth a watch but probably only once. Overall, a movie with a great cast that was just OK. I give this a B-.

A weird collection of character arcs merging together into a loose plot. A lack of flow, and although there is a star-studded cast, a few only pop up for a single scene, namely Grammar and Trejo. Some characters work, others like the cowboy cop don't. It's interesting, but not particularly good. It also all concludes with the most surreal sausage dog action scene.

This movie had me very intrigued at first as I was trying to figure out the characters and I really thought there would be much more to this. Then eventually I started to notice many inexplicable events throughout the movie and that is when I realized that the movie itself was going nowhere and had no real, deep meaning whatsoever. When Teddy is giving his speech at what is falsely portrayed as Redondo pier he begins reciting absurd platitudes in the background and talking about the basic fears of all people (i.e. fear of going to prison). The entire movie is nonsense and about nothing. What really bothered me was when they kept referring to Redondo Beach and showing Venice Beach. Note to Hollywood - We do not have homeless people digging through trashcans in Redondo Beach.

First off, the film has a spectacular cast. If you hate the positivism movement you will probably get a headache from rolling your eyes. However, if you watch this film as a tongue in cheek comedy, you will have as much fun watching it as I did. The fact of a horde of criminals getting influenced by a self help book trend and how it affects all their lives and things beginning intersecting is hilarious. So, sit back, relax and have a good laugh with the cast. The critics need to reach into their back pocket to find themselves (you'll get that later after watching)