Easy Living

I stumbled upon the 2017 movie "Easy Living" by random chance here in 2024. And with it being a movie that I had never seen, much less actually heard about, of course I opted to check out the movie. I virtually had no idea what I was in for here, as I sat down to watch it. So I suppose that writer and director Adam Keleman had every opportunity to entertain and bedazzle me with this movie.

The movie is listed as a drama thriller, but I found it to be anything but thrilling. The storyline in the movie, as concocted by writer Adam Keleman, failed to catch my interest. The contents of the storyline just had no appeal to me, and I find no entertainment in watching people perform mundane daily chores and tasks on the screen.

The pacing of the narrative in the movie was so painfully slow, and I have to say that my interest in the movie was waning rapidly as the movie made next to no progress. And 35 minutes into the ordeal, I was good and ready to toss the towel in the ring and give up. I was under the impression that the movie was a mixture of drama and thriller, but there was nothing thrilling about this sluggish narrative. 10 minutes later, I gave up on this dumpster fire of a movie.

I don't think I was familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. And despite the fact of having a boring storyline, I will say that the acting performances in the movie were fair. But the acting performances had little chance of salvaging the movie, as the storyline was such a massive swing and a miss.

This is definitely not a movie that I will ever return to attempt finish watching, as I wasn't even remotely entertained the first time around trying to suffer through the sluggish narrative.

My rating of writer and director Adam Keleman's 2017 movie "Easy Living" lands on a very generous two out of ten stars.

This a rare case where the IMBD average rating is actually accurate, but still on the generous side. The lead is cast perfectly, and the majority of the supporting roles are handled competently. While our lead is beautifully flawed, the viewer is compelled to see what happens to her. Unfortunately the script is where this movie fails monumentally. This is no "gem" of any sorts, as one previous reviewer incomprehensibly said. Without spending too much time on this, the final 20 minutes were an absolute absurd waste of time and energy. It's like all of a sudden we are thrown into another completely different movie. I don't mind when a flawed character fails to find their way or redemtption or whatever as long it's handled in a decent manner by the director/writer. The abuurdity of the final 20 minutes ruined everything that came before it, and it's ashame because there were genuinely warm, funny, and powerful scenes. All wiped out by a nonsensical ending that defies reason, sanity, and just about everything else. This movie falls into the realm of disappointing and forgettable, where it shall rightfully remain forever.

The story is about a woman with a very sad life and she's looking for a way to make money. This is such a bad movie. I can't believe I watched this till the end. It is absolutely not a comedy and I don't know why it's written in its description. It's very sad and it's not exciting at all. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

A truly excellent character study, anchored by strong, believable performances and nuanced writing. Sherry's struggle with getting herself onto the ladder that she has until now ignored, and the existential despair that entails, is easy to relate to. The director (Adam Keleman) imbues the proceedings with a touch of absurdity, just enough to make it feel as if the universe is aligned against her. And a jarring final act initially seems out of place until it fits squarely into Sherry's path towards self-actualization. A tiny gem.

I was surprised by this movie. I guess the slacker main character with plenty of slacker quality flaws brought he into this movie, and let me go at times. But it was a great movie to watch when bored with all the others. Definitely a good watch, and I was surprised by how good an indie film can get.

7 Stars!