Syrup

"Looking at a billboard is supposed to feel like love at first sight but it's not real, it's just marketing and without it you wouldn't even know who you are." Scat (Fernandez) is fresh out of marketing school with no prospects on the horizon until he comes up with an idea for a new energy drink. When he brings it to the attention of Six (Heard) he is excited at the prospect of becoming rich but a double cross changes everything. With the job I have I pretty much watch everything no matter what it is. I usually don't watch the trailers for the movie because I don't like when they give too much away. Doing it that way makes what I watch real hit or miss as far as how good it is. What I have noticed is that the lower budget movies that I haven't heard of are 99% of the time better then the "studio" movies. This is a perfect example of that. I don't know if satire is the right word but the movie to me shows how the marketing industry will do whatever it takes to sell a product and how gullible the public is when it comes to branding. The movie does get a little dark at times but that proves it's point all the more. The movie is entertaining and funny but to me this is more of a statement movie. I could also be reading way too much into it though. Overall, a huge surprise of a movie that I highly recommend. I give it an A-.

Ahhhh IMDb reviewers what is wrong with you people. I sat down to this after reading the reviews (5.5 average) and thought maybe its just another romcom flam which will fill in the evening, it will be nothing much.

But what I got was an original storyline and an engaging non cloned romcom I never seen before which zinged with ideas and concepts which I am still thinking about 2 days later, that is very rare with films these days.

As the film went the main protagonists have a great on screen chemistry, the story is an in-depth look at shallow marketing and it does that brilliantly. I really don't have to say more.

People have a look at this film and don't trust the reviewers who have read the book. I am sure the book is better, but as a standalone film this is very enjoyable. I have just bought another of the authors books as I am eager for more of his views of this time we live in.

On the surface, Syrup has an interesting enough premise as it explores the competitive and deceptive world of advertisement. However, whenever this movie started to get interesting, it would always do something to kill the tension. Most of this can be due to the fact that there are really two plots. The story of Scat trying to make it big and Scat's love story with Six. The problem is these two stories don't work well together, and whenever the film switches its focus, the movie suffers. This, in part, could be attributed to the fact that Six is a rather flat character. I can appreciate trying to keep her mysterious, but since we never know her motivation (or if what she says was her motivation at the end was true), it's hard to connect with her character. Furthermore, the characters kept trying to explain the plot to the audience, and while this information was interesting, it didn't add a lot to the story or the characters. I do have to say there were some great one-liners. Also, Brittany Snow's was great as Three. Although her appearance in the film is rather short, I think the character had a lot of potential, and her scenes were some of the best in the film. I would have loved to see her and Six go head to head. Sadly this isn't a movie where women get to be complex. Really no one is too complex in this film. In the end, this is probably one of those stories that is better as a book.

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.