Syrup

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.

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.

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.

This one tries to be cool, slick and witty. But it just comes off as dumb and superficial. Sure that maybe the point of this flick, but not when you don't believe what the narrator has to say most of the way through. This movie has problems with what it tries to make fun of. It's all style and image, but has no substance or intelligence to it. Although not believable but at least it starts out somewhat intriguing, but quickly loses it's flare and just becomes redundant. It's like watching a fairy tale version of the marketing world, which is fine but like I said this movie is boring. The humor is flat and just about everything about it is forgettable, including the dis-likable main characters. In another words it tries to create a image of it being professional, but underneath it all it's amateurishly done. At the end of it all, nothing seems to be resolved and far from it being satisfying.

3/10

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