Man of the Year

This is one unique movie. The use of split screens throughout makes for non stop action that keeps the viewer's eyes glued to the screen. An interesting premise that's fully realized. It's truly unbelievable that the entire dialogue was improvised...it sounds as if it was shot from a script. The actors are uniformly excellent. Hats off to John Ritter for a sensitive, groundbreaking performance. And Lin Shaye is laugh-out-loud funny, too.

Interesting how every comment to date (and not many at that) is ridiculously positive about this movie.

What is to like? Short answer: nothing at all. A bunch of web cams installed at a boring party would produce the same as this effort.

There is a LOT of drinking in this movie. Personally I don't drink and don't admire those that do. Alcohol is the stupid drug and this movie is proof.

The movie is unedited, people -- completely without editing. The Sundancers call this innovative. You decide.

I think editing is probably the most unappreciated aspect of a movie. We all know that we need a good story, good acting, good directing, good photography and music that compliments all of these. But without editing you still end up with a steaming pile of cow dung.

This one steams. Avoid if you can.

The concept is simple: 20 or so people, 20 or so cameras, the whole thing shot live and the throughline being the downfall of a big kahuna whose great success every celebrates at a dinner party. A little ALTMAN, a little TIME-CODE, for sure, but this piece has its own identity because it's so tight. Every single character seems to be the star of his/her own story. Nearly everyone is interesting in some way. But, because you know that the John Ritter's character is about to crash and burn, he's the one you look out for the most.

There's something about unscripted humor that's borne of a situation. It hardly ever happens in movies, but this one has loads of it. Some comes from editing, the balance comes from the actors, whose roles seem almost improv.

There are a few soft moments. The tension lags and some storylines get in the way of the better ones. But, perhaps the most interesting part is that this could be a prototype of a new genre, a post-modern New Wave in this "reality-driven" age (of TV, at least).

All in all, an incisive, hip effort. It'll be great to see if it get some proper theatrical play.

I saw this film recently at the Santa Monica Film Festival because I knew one of the producers. I had no idea what to expect going in and found myself truly enthralled and blown away by the accomplishments of this film. Fast, funny, brilliant, twisted, bizarre, touching, intelligent--everything you hope to find in today's indie scene but rarely do. And when you add in the technical facts--improvised dialogue, 20 cameras, one night shoot--it stands as a great representation of what can be accomplished when creative people refuse to hear the word "impossible."

I thought the unique format would be distracting but it added to the character development and to the complexity of the story. Really good movie. Entirely satisfying. Ritter was great. The film had a 'real' and spontaneous feel to it.