At Middleton

This is a very cute movie. It has a lot of humor scattered throughout. Not pee your pants funny but relatable humor in life's adventures and experiences. There are some very funny moments though. There are a couple times wherein it seems just a tad on the slow side but not enough to make you lose interest. Make sure to watch the out-takes on DVD, some of them are pee your pants funny. It is very well acted. Each character is interesting and you can relate to each of them in a very real way. Parents faced with kids going off to college and kids faced with any parental issues will find this movie easy to relate to. Spencer LoFranco & Taissa Farmiga both seem to be great up and coming talents. This isn't a perfect movie but it is a fun & touching one to watch!

"By the time the afternoon bell rings you will have fallen in love. I guarantee it." George Hartman (Garcia) and his son arrive at Middleton College for a tour. While there he meets Edith Martin (Farmiga) who is doing the same with her daughter. The two begin talking and soon strike up a fast friendship that over the course of the day evolves into something that makes them question everything. I'll start by saying I wasn't really excited about watching this. I expected a basic love story with out much substance. What I did find was I liked it much more then I expected. While the movie is really nothing more then two people talking for an hour and a half it was actually entertaining to watch. The best way to really describe what happens in this is to compare it to the Before Sunrise trilogy. This has the same feel. Two people meet and we watch their relationship grow over a few hours. The most entertaining aspect of the movie is watching how the roles of the children and parents switch. The parents have the college experiences and the kids stress about everything else. Overall, if you liked the Before Sunrise movies then you will like this as well. Better then I expected, it was very romantic and a very real love story. I give this a B+.

Trailer for At Middleton is somewhat misleading. This really is a romantic comedy, but the most interesting, if not the most important, moments have been omitted. On the other hand, when you watch the movie, you'll understand how difficult it's been to explain its essence in a couple of minutes of a trailer.

At Middleton shows what seems to be forgotten in contemporary movie-making: Actors performing the art of acting in front of a camera. There is an incredible chemistry between Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga, culminating in the scene where they participate in a class led by Mirjana Jokovic.

This is a small movie that has a lot of pleasant surprises...

The mother daughter resemblance is in a way haunting because the daughter is so compelling, yet so young. I found myself spellbound by her eyes and her whole facial expression and body language to establish a mother- daughter tension and young impatient ambition as interesting as the romance between two fifty year-old's married to someone other than present company. Andy Garcia is perfectly cast and appealing to follow as he and this opinionated broad clash and fall in love with their opposite type. This a a movie about life portrayed as extremely attractive yet farcical. It is pure entertainment that wins over an audience within minutes. It dares to confront the real and possibly dull or difficult with the fun, funny, and fanciful and a real good slap in the face which echoes I needed that. Why give it a 10? Because it never missed a beat.

George Hartman (Andy Garcia) and his son Conrad (Spencer Lofranco), and Edith Martin (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Audrey (Taissa Farmiga) are among the parents kids tour of the Middleton College. George is stiff heart surgeon and Edith is a free spirit. They don't get along at first in the parking lot. Neither are not necessarily happy. They get along better and slip away from the tour. They spend the day together and open up about their married lives. The kids find themselves spending the day together too.

It's a very light weight movie. Its simple easy comic touch gives it a few giggles. The problem is that it also keeps it from gaining any weight when the tough stuff starts happening. It's a light half-day tour which describes the movie too. There is nothing terribly wrong with this. The actors have a nice time together although it would have been nice for the Farmiga sisters to have more scenes together.