Answer This!

This film, set on the campus of the University of Michigan, makes the U look as good as it really is. Yes, I'm an alum, so I'm biased, but the story is well written, the cast well-chosen, and the direction excellent. The minor revelation of a secret identity is a great way to end this film. The professor who plays the father of the story's lead is an actual professor (now emeritus). He is held in high esteem by the many students whose lives he touched. It was a stroke of genius to build this role around him. Then, again, maybe it was so obvious, it wasn't genius at all. The film captures the procrastination and angst so many doctoral candidates suffer as they try to complete their theses. If you ever went there, you'll identify with this film. If you ever attended or visited the University of Michigan or wanted to, you'll find that aspect alone worth the trip to Answer This!

There are no great twists in this movie and nothing ground breaking. It's not remarkably funny, it's not extremely bad. It just is a very average blend of a growing up movie that tries to be a comedy.

The plot line follows the basic boy is stuck in life, boy meets free spirited girl, boy gets girl, boy gets a wake-up call, yada yada yada storytelling. Very easy to predict once you've been introduced to the main characters. The whole trivia thing is just an excuse to shoot in a bar and in the end is actually a pretty small part of the whole movie. There is one scene where the main character gets very philosophical in class about the concept of questioning what one reads and it's relation to creating something holy, which is actually surprisingly thought provoking (although the setting in which it is presented again is pretty cliché).

If you're into the whole "growing up in college" thing, or if you just want something where no brain power is necessary, then you might have a few enjoyable hours with this one.

I was fortunate enough to attend the world premiere screening of Answer This! at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor last October, and since then I have been waiting for the film to be picked up for wider distribution. Wrekin Hill Entertainment has picked up Answer This!, and to celebrate that, there was another red carpet premiere screening at the Emagine Royal Oak this past Thursday, October 13. I was interested in seeing if the distributors had made any changes to the movie, and if they had, they are little; however, the movie was just as good as I remembered it.

As a graduate student working to complete her thesis I absolutely loved this movie. So much of my life was working towards this goal of having my masters but the afterwards of it all wasn't figured out. Not to mention I love bar trivia. This movie is I guess a "coming of age film" it's the perfect film for those in their twenties who have done everything "right" but still don't have things figured out. Besides the storyline the movie is filled with likable characters, a well-written script, and a fantastic score that will delight almost everyone. Christopher Gorham shines as a nerdy but charming TA that is struggling to find himself while being pressured by his father to follow in his foot steps. Give this movie a chance and it will surprise you.

"Answer This! is a modern comedy with a great cast. The acting is uniformly good. I've never heard of this Director before, but I'm sure we're going to hear and see a lot more work from him. The quality of the editing and photography is excellent. Having not heard anything about this film, I walked in not knowing what to expect. Someone should think about changing the Film's Poster because it doesn't project what this film is about. Some clever person will figure this out and "package" this film, and then, a studio will make a lot of money. I'm looking forward to see the next film this director makes. I'm sure we will see much more of the cast. Take my advice and see this film.